The "Contest" for Renaming Georgia Street is a Complete Sham

The Powers-That-Be in this town have decided to hold a contest on what Georgia Street should be called after it's federally funded makeover is finished. Of course, these people see a problem when it isn't broken. A commenter over at Paul Ogden's post on the subject saw an interview with an Indianapolis Downtown Inc official where the official claimed that since there's nothing southern about Georgia Street, it's a bad name. Great, I can't wait until Tamara Zahn at IDI starts trying to change the cultural district's name that is Massachusetts Avenue.

The two names that have been publicly floated are "Champions Way", in reference to the Superbowl being hosted here in 2012, and "Hospitality Boulevard", which I guess is a contrived way of fitting the phrase Hoosier Hospitality into a street name.

Both of those names sound absolutely horrible, and if I was a betting man, I'd bet that they came from out-of-town consultants who don't live in Indianapolis.

Then there's the other side of changing street names: Businesses have to change business cards and basically communicate to anyone who sends them mail about the new address.

I actually like what my friend Jon Easter posted on Facebook, naming it after Mayor Bill Hudnut. Hudnut had a vision for Indianapolis and it's due to his administration that this city has grown to what it is today. I won't pretend I'm smart enough to decide if "Hudnut Street" or "Hudnut Place" or whatever rolls off the tongue the most, but I think if chosen well, a new street name would be worth the cost.

But as Aaron Renn over at the Urbanophile points out, it's very, very easy to botch a street re-naming. And it looks like it's going to happen.

Make no mistake about it. IDI and their partners in crime have a name already in mind, and that's the name that will be chosen. This is more or less a publicity stunt for some good PR. And hey, it'll probably work. Still doesn't change that, years after the Superbowl is gone and that miniscule amount of tax revenue is long since spent, we'll have a street named by PR consultants that doesn't fit in with the rest of the streets in the city.

Herman Cain Can't Be Serious

I found Herman Cain's latest campaign commercial to be a resignation that his Presidential aspirations are going nowhere fast, so he's decided to just troll everyone and basically release his own version of tribute.wmv.

Leaning on a crutch of 9/11 is supposed to be a Rudy Giuliani gimmick. It's sad that Cain has sunk this low. And to think I actually took him as a somewhat serious candidate not all that long ago.

What Jobs Bill?

Last night, President Barack Obama held a joint session of Congress to introduce what he is calling the American Jobs Act. Obama repeatedly encouraged to pass the bill "right away", but no bill has actually been introduced to either house of the United States Congress. The Hill is reporting that the GOP House caucus sent a letter to Obama asking him to send the bill to the House so that they can study it in committee and have it scored by the Congressional Budget Office.

So I log onto Facebook and see a number of my liberal associates posting phone numbers of legislative leaders in the US Congress so people can call and encourage them to pass this proposed bill. But how can you pass a bill that, as of right now, doesn't exist? Is this another case of having to pass a bill to find out what's in it?

Ballard's Backers Need to Grow A Pair

I've heard about these "negative" ads mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy (D) has been sending via the mail and on television about Mayor Greg Ballard (R). I mean, when most of the local blogosphere is conservative, it's hard to not hear about it.

So I decided to do something and actually look at the direct mail pieces and watch the television ads. The second of two direct mailers can be seen here, though I can't find the first one online. The videos can be seen here.

I obtained both of the direct mailers myself. The first mailer is basically her first campaign commercial, except in written form. It focuses on education, and I don't recall Ballard's name being on it at all. On the second mailer, Ballard's name is on it a total of twice, both within the same bullet point of information. Nothing negative about it.

Kennedy's second television ad talks about the supposed lack of focus on education the Ballard administration has had. While that point is debatable, I don't know if it's negative. It's an issue. Candidates challenging incumbents often compare their views with the incumbent so voters might see a difference.

All I gotta say is if these are "negative" ads, then the Marion County GOP and Ballard's backers need to put on some big boy pants and grow some alligator skin. I typically see "negative" ads as when it's a personal attack on a candidate, like, oh say, this one. Didn't see Ballard's wife or children mentioned in Kennedy's, and nothing is mentioned as a personal insult to Ballard.

And while some Ballard's Backers are crying over the tough, mean negative ads from that monster Melina Kennedy, one GOP ward chairman from Warren Township is spreading rumors about why Kennedy left her previous jobs as deputy mayor under Mayor Bart Peterson and as a lawyer with the law firm Baker & Daniels, suggesting she couldn't "handle" the pressure of the city job and that she was caught in ethical troubles at B&D. If this local politico bothered to check his history, Kennedy left the Peterson administration to run for Marion County Prosecutor in 2006, and left B&D in 2011 to commit to running for Mayor full time. He's also slammed her for working as a waitress while growing up. Man, politicians trying to relate to common people by showing they've worked the same dead end jobs others have. What is up with that, right?

If you ask me, this representative of the county GOP is going much more personal than the Kennedy campaign. Ballard's backers need to grow some thicker skin.

I've Been Endorsed by the FOP

Headlines were made when the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #86 overwhelmingly endorsed Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy over incumbent Republican Mayor Greg Ballard. It's often been a topic of this blog what Ballard's public safety director, Doctor Director Frank Straub, has done to de-moralize the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. And it's suspected that the endorsement of Kennedy has less to do with her public safety platform and more to do with a repudiation of Ballard's/Straub's.

Some of Ballard's last backers are pushing the conspiracy theory that Sheriff John Layton (D) gave money to 50 deputies to register with the FOP so they could vote for Kennedy. Let's see, the voting total was 125-36 in favor of Kennedy. And 125-50 is...oh, 75. So according to the conspiracy theory, Ballard still loses out on the endorsement! Also throwing off that conspiracy theory, being pushed by Marion County GOP Chairman Kyle Walker, is that 19 GOP City-County Council candidates were endorsed, including several incumbents.

The FOP also released their endorsements for the City-County Council races as well. Paul Ogden has a breakdown of the list here. His list includes party affiliation.

Apparently, the FOP isn't guaranteed to endorse you if you were a former IPD/IMPD/Sheriff. Councilor Benjamin Hunter (R), an IPD officer until 2008, was passed over in favor of his challenger Todd Woodmansee (D) in District 21 Contrast that with Jack Sandlin (R). Sandlin, a former IMPD officer, won the endorsement over sitting At-Large Councilor Ed Coleman (LP) for the District 24 race. Coleman was one of the earliest critics of Frank Straub and the only vote against him in his initial confirmation. Two Democrats and three Republicans (including two of their incumbents) were endorsed for the At-Large races.

And finally, yours truly was endorsed over Sahara Williams (R) and Maggie Lewis (D-incumbent) for the District 7 race.

I'll say both I'm completely surprised and completely honored. Despite the kind words that the head interviewer said to me as I walked out of the FOP building, I felt I had completely botched the interview. Seven officers sat at the other end of the table and asked me seven questions from the survey they had sent me. I answered with seven answers which I had sent them earlier in the day. There was no follow up or anything like that.

So I thought that was weird.

Then I started talking to other council candidates.

They all reported the exact same experience.

One of them took the straight forward interview style with a bit of humor. John Barth, a Democrat At-Large council candidate, told me he answered the questions in quick succession because he knew which question would be next. Apparently, the FOP has a sense of humor because they ended up endorsing him.

(And apologies to my Facebook and Twitter followers, since I'm basically rehashing this subject in the form of a blog post)

Satellite Voting: What's the Big Deal?

Satellite voting (the practice of opening up satellite voting locations across the county in the several days preceding an election for in-person early voting) is, again, being made an issue with the Marion County Election Board. As the fall general election for municipal offices comes closer, the deadline to determine satellite voting locations looms as well. The Marion County GOP, being the well-oiled machine it is, can only one entire person to actually make their way to the board meeting. That person is Kyle Walker, the county GOP chairman. He says satellite voting is expensive and doesn't increase turnout. Well, the turnout part can kind of be seen as true, but I personally believe expensive is misleading.

If there's one thing government should spend an excessive amount of money on, it's voting. We should make it as easy as possible for people to cast votes. Many people don't work in the 9-5 world anymore. People hold multiple jobs that can have odd, or even unpredictable, hours. College students have classes that start as early as 7:30am or run late until 9pm. People are busy, and demand convenience. And one of those conveniences should be the ability to vote either early or on election day.

If anything, in-person early satellite voting should be encouraged. It's the mail-in absentee voting where fraud or even simple mistakes can occur.

On another note, noted county GOP apologist Ernie Shearer is quoted in the article as well, saying "We're sick and tired of you spending our money." Shearer must've forgotten that the Mayor Greg Ballard proposed and City-County Council (majority Republican) approved budgets, which he has fawned over, allocate money to the Clerk's office for satellite voting. He's barking up the wrong tree here. The Clerk's office doesn't get any money that it isn't specifically allocated in the budget.

Goldsmith's Domestic Violence Arrest Led to NYC Resignation

I just received a news alert from 93.1 WIBC-FM on my phone with a plain text statement saying that former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith has been arrested in Washington D.C. The arrest was due to alleged domestic violence.

The New York Post has the exclusive story.

Goldsmith is also a former New York City deputy mayor who recently was resigned/forced out by Mayor Michael Bloomberg due to Goldsmith's disastrous two year tenure, especially when it came to snow removal this past winter.

UPDATE: After reviewing the Post's story, this is not a recent arrest. It happened in early August at Goldsmith's DC residence. A police report was filed and Goldsmith did spend time in jail, but his wife is saying she never wanted him arrested, no physical altercation occurred, and she declined to press charges. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg found out about the arrest and Goldsmith offered his resignation.