Indianapolis is My Home

13
Dec

Gasoline Per Gallon Price Tag of Pain

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, Business, Education, Government, Politics, Shopping

At one point the image above seemed funny. Now I’d just about give my arm and a leg for a gallon of regular gas to only be $1.72.

I had an interesting discussion with my boss over lunch the other day. It centered around the following question:

“How much would gas have to cost for purchasing it to be painful enough to change your behavior?”

Right now gas is averaging about $3/gallon in Indianapolis.

• Have you changed your driving behavior?
• Has it even crossed your mind?

What if gas were $5/gallon?

• Would you start driving less?
• Would you stay home more?
• Would you put a for sale sign on your SUV and start looking at alternative fuel vehicles?
• Would you start asking friends about car-pooling?
• Would you start demanding public transportation options to be made available to you?

My boss suggested that we immediately at a tax to every gallon of gas that would bring the price to a painful threshold for the average person. The money collected from the additional tax would be used to start funding the building of mass public transportation and to research and further develop alternative fuel vehicles.

He said it’s got to be an immediate change-over and not a gradual increase so that we immediately feel the pain and start looking for solutions. Think about lifestyle. If you’re currently spending $150 a month on gas for your car, would spending $300 force you to do something different? Would the change you make just involve cutting out other expenses so you really wouldn’t have to change your driving habits?

What if this change encouraged the widespread change in our community that would push the development of commercially connected neighborhoods again? If you could actual walk to your grocery store, bank, drug store and hardware store. Would you stop driving? I would.

What if we built smaller schools and they were more widespread so that 70% of the students were walking to school and reduced the fleet of gas guzzling buses to just a few.

What would it take for you to change?

03
Oct

Indianapolis Public Schools Suspend 100+ Students

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Education, Elementary, High Schools, News

One of the biggest changes for this school year was that IPS schools have enforced a dress code.

Some parents and students say Tech High School administrators went overboard yesterday when they suspended more than 100 students for violating the new Indianapolis Public Schools dress code. Parents today will be asked to sign a form saying they are responsible for what their kids wear to school or the children cannot come back. School administrators say parents and students had plenty of time to get the uniforms.

I’m sorry, I just don’t understand the problems here. Both of my kids attend schools where a basic uniform is required. It’s not much, but I just see so many benefits and advantages of having a uniform. For our family, it eliminates the “what am I going to wear today” down to “What color shirt do you want to wear today? Do you want to wear pants or shorts?”

That’s just so much easier.

What do you think?

Source: IBJ

09
Sep

David Letterman Speech at Ball State

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Celebrities, Colleges, Humor, News, People, Surrounding Indianapolis

A friend of mine that’s a student at Ball State and will be getting to take advantage of the new Letterman Communication Center videotaped Letterman’s speech and posted it to YouTube.

David Letterman cracks me up.

21
Aug

Gary Varvel Does Editorial Comics Justice

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Education, Elementary, High Schools, Local Artists, News, People

I was recently introduced to the talent of Gary Varvel, a local editorial cartoonist featured on the IndyStar.

I love his artistic design and comic style. Here’s one of his recent comics about the changes in local Indianapolis Public Schools with the addition of school uniforms.

My personal opinions are that school uniforms are a great idea and I think decisions like this will be the start of a whole new era in Indy public schools.

For more of Gary’s great editorial insight and artistic talent, you can check him out on the IndyStar website, in the printed edition or on his blog.

14
Aug

All-Indy Pass

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Business, Childrens Museum, Colleges, Concerts, Dining, General, Indiana Fever, Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Indians, Indianapolis Zoo, Special Events, State Fair, Theater, Things To Do in Indy

My wife and I have been wondering lately why Indianapolis doesn’t have a citywide pass that would get you into a variety of attractions for a single, annual fee.

We’re members of the Indianapolis Zoo, The Indianapolis Children’s Museum already and would be interested in buying a membership to NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, Connor Prairie, Eagle Creek Park, etc.

There are loads of different events that happen across the city on a regular basis, it seems like an Indy City Pass would be a great idea for somebody to implement. You could even incorporate restaurant discounts, free parking and similar items.

Even thinking about it a little bit more, it would be great to be able to choose one game to attend for each sports team: Pacers, Colts, Indians, Fever, Ice and maybe even local college sporting events.

09
Aug

Anderson Highland Wins Band Day

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Awards & Recognition, High Schools, Indiana State Fair Grounds, Local Musicians, Things To Do in Indy

As a follow-up to my previous post about the Indiana State Fair, Anderson Highland high school wins the Band Day competition at the fair last night for marching.

Congratulations to the kids who suffered through the heat of the day itself, but also all the long hours of work and practice to achieve this result.

I spent 7 years in my high school marching band. No, I’m not stupid enough that it took me 7 years, I just had the opportunity to start marching in the band when I was in 6th grade and did it all through high school.

My closest claim to fame is that our high school was chosen to participate in the 200th centennial celebration for the state of Kentucky as well as representing the state of Kentucky in D.C. for the 4th of July parade. That day the temperature on the street was above 100 degrees and we were feeling it for sure.

Congrats again to Anderson Highland band and a specific shout-out to the trumpets!

02
Aug

Local Search Startup Partners with Indiana University

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Business Entrepreneurs, Colleges

ChaCha search, founded by local IT entrepreneur Scott Jones, partners with Indiana University in a new research alliance according to the IBJ.

ChaCha founder Scott Jones will join IU Vice President for Information Technology Brad Wheeler for a news conference at IUPUI.

Founded last year, ChaCha quickly raised $6 million from investors, including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Compaq Computer founding CEO Rod Canion, and Jack Gill, who co-founded Palo Alto, Calif. venture capital firm Vanguard Ventures.

I haven’t heard any details of this yet, the press conference is scheduled for later this afternoon from Indiana University’s campus in Bloomington.

21
Jun

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) Accepts School Uniforms

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Education, Elementary, High Schools, News

The big news around the city this day is that IPS administrators have voted to implement a school uniform policy for attire. K-8 grades will be required to wear khaki, blue, black pants with red, white, blue collared shirts. 9-12 will be allowed to substitute their schools colors for the options with the shirts.

I think this is a great idea. My son has been attending an Edison School now for the past 2 years and they have a similar uniform policy. I think it helps eliminate some of the stress and anxiety for students nowadays in school. Not too mention, it makes it a little easier on families to keep laundry ready to go with a standard grouping of clothes and colors.

What do you think? Are you for or against the school uniforms? Let us know in the comments.

19
Jun

IU Football Coach Terry Hoeppner Dies

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Colleges, Sports

After battling brain cancer and the associated problems and surgeries, Terry Hoeppner has passed away. Terry has been the head football coach at the Indiana University since 2005 and was the person responsible for giving the nickname “The Rock” to the stadium after he had a huge, limestone boulder moved into the in-zone before he started his first season.

IU team physician Dr. Larry Rink confirmed in a statement that Hoeppner was being treated for the brain tumor over the past 18 months. During Hoeppner’s illness the school released few details about his condition or treatment, citing federal privacy laws and the family’s desire not to make the illness public.

Hoeppner, who went 9-14 in two seasons, had taken three medical leaves since December 2005. He hadn’t been seen publicly since late February. Late last week, the school said assistant Bill Lynch would replace him as coach for the 2007 season.

In December 2005, doctors removed a tumor from his right temple a year after IU athletic director Rick Greenspan hired Hoeppner. In September, a CT scan revealed another growth in the same area of Hoeppner’s brain.

Although I’d never really followed IU’s football program, I was inspired by the ongoing news of Coach Hoeppner’s fight with cancer and how his players and friends saw him as a real inspiration for never giving up on the battle.

We wish his family the best and pray for peace and strength to all those left behind that miss him dearly.

• Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner dies - Yahoo! Sports

• IU football coach Hoeppner dies - IndyStar

• Indiana football coach Hoeppner dies of complications from brain tumor - ESPN News