Overly-Optimistic Election Day Predctions

What the hell....

• US Senate - The Dems win everywhere they are leading and pick up two seats they are down in, probably Bennett in CO and Giannoulias in IL. This holds the GOP to +6 for a Senate margin of 53-47 D. Thus in theory things can pass without the Wanker Caucus of Joe Lieberman (I-His Giant Ego), Ben Nelson (D-Ethanol), and probably soon to be new member Joe Manchin (D-Coal).
• US House - GOP gains held to +50 for a new House margin of 228-207 R. Hopefully there are at least 11 non-crazy Republicans who can help the Dems increase the debt ceiling and save the country from bankruptcy. Otherwise... Well, let's just say you might want to move your assets in Euros.
• IN House Districts - What the hell, both Donnelly and Hill hang on due to better-than-expected turnout in South Bend and Bloomington. All other district go as polled.
• IN Senate - Nothing is saving Ellsworth, congratulations Senator Coats (R-VA). (I'm still astonished over this one. How the hell did the Dems fail to make his carpetbagging an issue? Whatever...)
• IN General Assembly - Nothing's saving this, GOP retakes the house. The Gay-Bashing Amendment will probably return next session, zombie-like.
• IN Secretary of State - Charlie White.
• Marion County Prosecutor - Terry Curry.
• Marion County Sheriff - John Layton.

This is what passes for optimism this year.

Free Speech, Religion & License Plates

Finally, a reason to post on this poor neglected blog!

About a year ago, I got it in my head to apply for a personalized license plate in the state of Indiana. The plate would read "NO GODS", my little response to the annoying and ever more present "In God We Trust" official Indiana license plates. I figured if it was okay for the state of Indiana to officially endorse religion (and specifically the Christian religion, no matter what they might say about "God" being ambiguous), then it would be okay for me to personally request my belief in no gods.

Having forgot about my application, I didn't even think about it until I received a letter from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles:

Dear Mr. B_______,

The personalized license plate ("PLP") referenced above has been denied as inappropriate due to form or content.
...

There's more, but it's basically telling me I can ask for a replacement PLP or request an appeal via an administrative hearing. Obviously, you know which option I am choosing. I decided to look up the relevant text related to allowable PLPs on the BMV website.

http://www.in.gov/bmv/3229.htm

Personalized license plates allow creativity; however, under Indiana Statue IC 9-18-15-4 (b) the BMV may refuse to issue a combination of letters or numerals, or both, that carry a connotation offensive to good taste and decency.

The BMV will deny a personalized license plate request if an objective, reasonable person would find that the customer’s proposed expression on the personalized license plate application is determined to carry a connotation offensive to good taste and decency, is misleading, or is otherwise prohibited. [emphasis added]

The question becomes, is the phrase "NO GODS" offensive to an "objective, reasonable person"? The only other portion of the guidelines above that could be a sticking point is "or is otherwise prohibited." If by that they include to mean a statement of religion, it is my opinion that a prohibition of religion on license plates went out the window when Indiana approved the "In God We Trust" license plate. If it is okay for citizens of Indiana to proclaim their religion via an Indiana license plate, not allowing me to proclaim my lack of religion seems to be a pretty obvious case of the state government favoring or promoting one religion or belief system over another (or over a lack thereof).

I've contacted both the Indiana ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their opinion and possible assistance. The FFRF responded quite quickly, saying they believe I have the BMV "in a pickle" but to wait for the ACLU-IN since the "In God We Trust" license plate issue was their baby back when that plate first came around. I'm hoping to hear from them soon before sending in my official appeal to the BMV for an administrative hearing. Either way, even if the ACLU doesn't take my case I plan on fighting this as much as possible.

If you have any suggestions, recommendations or help you can offer please let me know in the comments.

Update: Thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend for posting this to reddit. Check this blog for future updates, or just watch http://tcmso.blogspot.com/search/label/jdbvsbmv

Update II: Thanks to the reddit post, I've found another Indiana resident fighting the same fight, in his case for a "GODLESS" plate and who has already been in contact with the ACLU-IN and American Humanist Association. Hoping we can pool resources.

Also, thanks to Hemant Mehta for sharing the story via the consistently good read The Friendly Atheist.

Once I know more and have sent out my official appeal for an administrative hearing, I'll put up a new post.

Update III: I'll have to do a new post catching everything up sooner than I thought, but until then this: The reddit thread is really becoming a good source. First the other Hoosier fighting for a GODLESS plate and now a picture of a plate in the streets bearing the slogal "BE GODS." That will come in handy.

Free Parking

Last month I had to visit the Federal Building downtown. On my way back to my car, I noticed an odd parking space. Take a look at the car parked between the two red cars. Notice anything missing?



I couldn't get a good picture with my mobile, so here's the Street View of the same space. The blue car above is parked between the trees in the center of the picture. Zoom in once for the best view.


View Larger Map

There is no meter for this space. It is not marked with any signage or curb paint to indicate that it is a no parking zone.

I doubt this space was designed as a space for large vehicles such as limousines or box trucks. I assume that the meters were installed from the cross street intersections inward, and this is just the gap left over from choosing to install the double meters.

So the question is, is this free parking? Anyone have any experience with this space? I believe you can see co-blogger CJ's old place in the photo above. Care to weigh in?

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to title this post.

Bailing Out The CIB

Jen Wagner wants to know what Greg Ballard thinks of the CIB bailout options:

Food and beverage taxes: Bumping up Marion County's 2 percent food and beverage tax by 1 percentage point would bring in $18 million a year. This is one of the best options because it raises the most money. But opposition from taxpayer groups would be high. Odds: Still alive.

Hotel taxes: An increase of 1 percent in Marion County's 9 percent hotel/motel tax would drum up $4 million a year. The hotel industry is opposed to any increase, saying it would make it more difficult for Indianapolis to compete against other cities for convention business. Odds: On the table.

Raising admission taxes: Increasing Marion County's 6 percent admissions tax by 1 percentage point would bring in $1.5 million a year. Mayor Greg Ballard likes this idea, though the Indiana Pacers are especially loath to do this because it would make it harder for the team, already struggling with thin turnout, to draw crowds. Odds: Possible.

Concessions from the teams: The Indianapolis Colts now get a share of revenues generated during non-Colts events at Lucas Oil Stadium. Giving that up would mean $3.5 million for the Capital Improvement Board a year. The Pacers hope the CIB will assume $15 million a year in operating costs at Conseco Fieldhouse. As a compromise, the CIB might assume a portion of that amount. Odds: Uncertain.

Expanding taxing districts: Adding new hotels and other stadium-related businesses to a sales tax increment financing district in Downtown would generate $10 million a year. Odds: Possible.

Alcohol tax: Indiana's spirits, wine and beer taxes are on the low end, but lawmakers are more interested in solutions that affect Marion County alone, not the whole state. The taxes raise about $42 million a year, which is split between the state and local governments. Odds: Unlikely.

That's a good question, and certainly one I can't answer. But I can certainly offer an opinion as to how the bailing out should be done. The CIB deficit is at $43M, and they've already agreed to $6M in cuts, leaving $37M to make up.

First things first. I'm sorry, but the Colts and Pacers have to make concessions here. The public's sympathy for bailouts is small enough, and I see no good argument why the economic bad times should only be shouldered by the government. So let's take the $3.5M the Colts get from non-Colts events (which is ridiculous anyway, but that's another story). Now the Pacers actually want the CIB to take on additional costs, which strikes me as unrealistic on their part. We'll come back to that, but for now the $3.5M seems like a no-brainer. Deficit down to $33.5M.

Marion County Taxes: From a purely selfish standpoint, this is the one I'd like the least because I eat out, whereas I don't stay in hotels. But that's a lot of revenue to pass up, and eating out is a luxury, so lets do that and pick up another $18M for a deficit of $15.5M. But hey, let's do all the others too. The special tax district for $10M, the hotel tax for $4M, and the ticket tax for $1.5M. That comes to... $15.5M.

So if we adopt all the local tax increases and take none of the costs the Pacers are trying to push off on us (but also not ask them for concessions like with the more successful Colts) we can close the gap. Seems a bit overly burdensome to Marion County in my opinion. The final option of using state alcohol tax money is rejected almost out of hand because provincial representative in the rest of the state don't want to spend the money on Marion County. But wait! Marion County is this state's tax base. It's almost certain that the rural counties that would be most opposed to this plan are net tax recipients, taking money from Marion and the doughnut counties. The fact is the state's economic success is intertwined, and hurting Marion County hurts everyone. Now I do believe that Marion and the doughnut counties most certainly benefit more than the rest of the state on this issue, but not exclusively. So I think what I'd like to see is for the deficit to be paid out by some combination of concessions from the sports teams, local taxes applied to Marion and the surrounding counties, and some state funding. Food, beverage, and hotel taxes are probably the best source for the local tax revenue, and the burden on any one county is less when we're extracting revenue from all of them. I think the alcohol taxes are also probably a good source of the state contribution as well. As Wagner says, our alcohol taxes are already low, so there's room to increase them without creating a black market. Alcohol is also a luxury good with negative public health externalities, also making it a decent candidate for some additional taxation.

Now this plan is probably completely unfeasible politically. Instead I'm afraid what's going to happen here is that Marion County will get hammered. I hope I'm wrong.

Old Views of Indianapolis

The MAKE Blog dug up a link to a very cool collection of penny postcards, sorted by state and county. Decided to check out the page for Marion County and take a look at what Indianapolis used to be.

It's a damn shame they tore down the old Marion County Courthouse when they built that boring 60's era design City/County Building.

Man, how cool would it be if the Pythian Building was still around? Actually found a little history of that building, and Mass Ave was removed there so One Indiana Square could be built.

The Circle is a very different place these days, with the monument now dwarfed by the AFNBBank One Chase Tower. The biggest loss on the circle is the gorgeous English Hotel and Opera House. Here's another great old postcard of the circle.

The Athenaeum has always looked cool and thankfully has survived the years. A little history from the National Park Service here.

Tomlinson Hall. Used to be a part of the City Market complex, it burnt down in 1958. You can see the current old City Market building in this postcard as well. Tomlinson Hall actually hosted two presidential nominating conventions of the Prohibition Party.

Yet another Mass Ave landmark, the Murat. The Wikipedia page has some history.

Butler University used to be in the Irvington area of Indianapolis (then its own town), but later moved to its current location. A couple postcards of the old campus reminds me alot of old small colleges and universities scattered around the state. Of course, their current campus houses the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove is that city's (Beech Grove did notjoin Indy's UNIGOV in the 70's) largest structure, and will be closing in a few years in favor of St. Francis' monstrosity of a hospital near Greenwood. Here's how it looks now.

Anyone know when this postcard might be from? That's some pretty serious flooding.

New Airport vs REALLY Old Airport

What is apparently a view from across the White River in Broadripple of the now gone White City Amusement Park, which once housed a Carosel that is now at the Children's Museum. (about 1/3 of the way down this page has an abbreviated history of the amusement park)

One of my favorite spots in Indianapolis, the Garfield Park Sunken Gardens.

Great collection, with many more postcards on the site than just these. Any postcards you like from where you grew up? Leave some links in the comments.

Full Collection
Indiana Collection

Indy City/County Council Email Update

An update to this post where I email the Democrats on the Indy City/County Council. So far only one councilor has taken the time to respond to me. Ahhhh that's representation! Councilwoman Angela Mansfield deserves credit for responding though, although she only addressed the issue of the Assessor pay after their positions were eliminated.

Not sure I should put the exact email in there as I didn't say in my initial email I would be posting replies, but essentially the council's hands were tied a bit by the state law that said they couldn't pay them nothing, and that she was in favor of paying them at the much lower 1980 level for the two years they were forced to pay them (and was a sponsor of the proposal to do just that). Unfortunately, if they had not passed the $54,000 for two years proposal then the assessors woudl have gotten $60,000.

I'm still pissed that it came to that, but props to Councilwoman Mansfield for taking the time to reply, at least on that issue.

Update: After 7 days, still only the single response from Councilwoman Mansfield.

I've Finally Had Enough With The Dems on the Indy CCC

So I've finally gotten fed up with the wankers on the Indy City County Council. I had a short lived project to go to all of their meetings, but life intervened and they were fucking boring. Issues or not, sitting through an hour of special recognitions and bullshit bloviating is too much for this humble blogger with a life and a fiancee (and Fallout 3 to play).

But between cutting the COIT to give Indy residents a whole $12!!omg!!!eleven111! , wanking about the city buying ferrrrin cars from them jap-o-neese and now paying the assessors $54,000 to sit on their asses for two years I just can't take it anymore.

So I emailed all of the Democrats on the CCC (well, all but Jose Evans. Someone hook the dude up with some email! For real.) I tried to be nice, but man, their wanking and pandering has gotten out of hand. We'll see if I actually get coherent responses from anybody.

Here's the email. I'll follow up with any replies I get.

First I want to say that I am a life long Democrat. I'm sure you hear that alot, but I've never voted for a Republican and only not voted straight ticket once (a write in for another Democrat). So these critiques aren't coming from someone who normally disagrees with you on everything so that I can be conveniently ignored.

A couple issues have me so worked up, I've decided to email every Democratic CCC member that has an email address. 1) The (for lack of a better term) wanking about this car deal, 2) Cutting the COIT to give us a WHOLE $12!! and 3) Paying the Assessors WAY TOO MUCH to do nothing for two years.

1) I'll be honest, on this first one I don't know who exactly has been making this an issue and who has thankfully been silent on it. But this whole thing about Toyota vs Chevy and the little round of faux xenophobia and manufacturing nationalism gets us nowhere. The fact is the upkeep costs on the Toyotas are cheaper than the upkeep costs on the Chevys. The long run savings go to the Toyota. Boxing in our city to only be able to buy goods from a certain locale hamstrings us being able to watch our expenses. You want to cut taxes (see #2), you gotta pay for it somehow. But cutting taxes AND forcing the city to buy more expensive to maintain cars out of some sort of nationalistic ideal is a double whammy on the city budget. But I'm sure the Democratic members of the CCC aren't just on this issue as a political stunt, right? Yeah. Right. I know it's easy in an economic downturn for people to turn to xenophobia and nationalism. It's happened during every economic downturn, and will continue to happen. But that doesn't mean you have to play into that trap, even mildly.

2) I want to start this issue off by saying that *thankfully* Councilors Bateman, Mansfield, Gray, Oliver, Nytes and Sanders are exempt from this criticism. Thank you for acknowledging that it actually takes money to run a successful city. But to the others, Councilors Evans, Pryor, Minton-McNeil, both Maherns, Adams and Brown, really what were you thinking? Cutting the COIT will give the average Marion County resident $12. *TWELVE DOLLARS*. I'll try not to spend it all in one place. Meanwhile the city is having to cut back on services, our public transit infrastructure is terrifyingly bad and we can't even salt the roads. Is giving people $12 just so you can say you cut taxes during the next election really worth the deterioration of our city? Cities, especially world class cities (which Indy tries so hard to be) need money to be run. I know some voters don't like to hear that, but it's not like we can salt the roads and lock up criminals with free fairy dust and wishes.

3) And finally, the Assessor thing. No idea how the vote broke down. But I know a number of you supported this ortherwise it wouldn't have passed with only 2 dissenters. I understand that some Democrats didn't feel it was necessary to do away with the Assessors position at the township level. I happen to think it was necessary, but I understand you disagreeing with that. But that's no excuse to pay $54,000 and benefits to public servants whom the public essentially FIRED in November. If I am laid off from my job I don't continue to get paid. It sucks, but I don't get paid. Now I get that under state law you couldn't pay them *nothing*, but why not go with a cheaper option? Again, you cut revenue to the city with the COIT decision, but then you give money away like this. Just because you feel sorry for them doesn't mean you should give away your constituents' money to them. I've heard some thought "compassion" was needed for them. Compassion? How about compassion for your constituents who rely on you to use our money efficiently to provide us with essential services and a growing city? That is the concern of an elected representative, not compassion for civil servants who have lost their job by the will of the people.

Sadly, I am beyond expecting much in the way of principled stands from the Democrats on the CCC. Yet I keep voting for you.

We'll see.