Indianapolis is My Home

14
Aug

Scaffolding Accident at M & I Building Downtown

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, News, Real Estate, WRTV - TV Channel 6

The big news downtown today was about three workers that fell from scaffolding on the M & I building downtown. You can read about the event on the IndyChannel website.

The workers were on scaffolding on the south side of the M&I Bank building at Ohio at Pennsylvania streets when the scaffolding malfunctioned, sending them plummeting to between the 12th and 14th floors of the 28-story building, Indianapolis fire Capt. Gregg Harris said.

The power of digital cameras and the Internet allows us to see photos up-close and personal that you won’t be seeing on the news.

Check-out the photos Stephen James has shared on his flickr account that were taken by Joe Black. Stephen works on the 7th floor of the building, the accident occurred on the 12th floor.

29
Jul

Lead Foots Beware – Smokey’s Got a Brand New Car

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, Government, Indianapolis Star, Traffic & Transportation

The Indiana State Police are the proud owners of 18 new, unmarked, 2008 Mustang GT’s to patrol Indiana highways. One car has been assigned to each of the Indiana State Police posts, but they also hunt together in “wolf packs” to catch speeders. It seems to be working.

The officers of the 18-car Mustang Unit wrote more than 4,600 speeding citations in June. That averages to about seven tickets per day, per car.

I passed two of these cars last week on the southwest side of I-465. A red one and a blue had pulled over a red pickup truck. My standpoint still remains the same. I’m regularly pushing the speed limit by 5-10mph but I also accept the fact that if I get pulled over I’m speeding.

The topic of law enforcement and speeding has been a popular one on this site. Anyone think it’s unfair for the police to use these types of unmarked cars? In the IndyStar story they mentioned one speeder going 127mph in his Corvette on SR37. That’s along my route to home and work so getting that guy in the pocket book sounds good to me.

22
Jul

More Tickets Available for Lucas Oil Stadium Tour

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, Real Estate, WISH - Channel 8

More tickets are going on sale today in about 10 minutes if you’re interested. I’ve already snagged my set of two tickets for my son and I to take the first tour of the day on August 16th.

Twenty thousand tickets will be available Tuesday morning at 10 at the Conseco Fieldhouse box office or Ticketmaster.com. The tickets are free and required.

Not sure if you saw the other recent coverage of some of the seats that are available for fans in the new stadium.

How do you like those puppies? You’d be a bit upset wouldn’t you? They could have at least put up a nice LCD screen on the columns couldn’t they?

You’ve got to wonder if the people that designed the seating have ever been to a game before? Or is this the case of the new stadium needing to meet a specific seating threshold number of seats available? My boss suggested they could have hung seats off the various decks like those toddler seats you clamp on your kitchen table.

WISH TV 8: Indianapolis News and Weather - 20,000 stadium tour tickets available

14
Jul

I Got My Lucas Oil Stadium Tour Tickets

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, News, Sports, Things To Do in Indy, WRTV - TV Channel 6

This morning I got a text message from Ticketmaster reminding me that the tickets for the free, public tour for the new Colts Lucas Oil Stadium tour that’s taking place on August 16th.

I went on to Ticketmaster’s website this morning and initially tried to get 4 tickets so each member of my family could attend. I couldn’t confirm that order so I backed my order down to two so my son and I could go. That was successful. I didn’t realize how huge the demand for this was until I saw a news article about it later.

Fans began lining up at about 7 a.m. for a chance to get the tickets. Some were season ticket holders, but most were people who normally don’t get to go to many games, 6News’ Julie Pursley reported.

Now I’m in a discussion about whether or not it was appropriate for the Colts or whomever to limit the “free” tickets to only 60,000 if there was a demand for much more. Did they create a problem? Is it okay for scalpers to now sell the once free tickets at a premium? Is it worth it to you to get to see the stadium in this way?

Colts Fans Snag Free Stadium Tour Tickets - Sports News Story - WRTV Indianapolis

24
Jun

Fiery Crash Closes I-465 Today

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Star, News, Traffic & Transportation, West Side

I got to take a little tour of the west side of Indianapolis this morning, but it wasn’t on purpose. A wreck that happened around 2:30am involving three semis and a pick-up truck ended up causing the interstate to be shut-down indefinitely at this point. As I drove through areas trying to avoid all the redirected traffic but still make it to the office, I got to see some neighborhoods I’ve never seen before.

According to a statement from Emery released this morning: Archie Curry, 64, Greensburg, Ky., was driving a north when his semi rear-ended a Chevrolet pickup.

Curry’s vehicle caught fire and jack-knifed into the fuel tanks of another semi driven by Douglas M. Robinson, 50, Pine, Az. Robinson’s vehicle also caught fire and crashed into another semi driven by Larry Calvert, 40, Palestine, Ohio.

The fires burned so hot that the pavement surface was damaged and it’s not certain when the I-465 between Airport Expressway and Rockville Road will be reopened to traffic. The hope is that it won’t need immediate repaired and crews can work on fixing the damage during the lighter traffic use in the evenings.

Crash, fire closes I-465 on Westside | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

20
Jun

Jon McLaughlin at the Hard Rock Cafe

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Chain Restaurants, Charities, Concerts, Downtown, Radio Now 100.9

A few days ago I wrote about Jon McLaughlin putting on a little concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Indianapolis. The concert was a re-opening of the Hard Rock Cafe Indianapolis with all new memorabilia as well as a fund raiser for Riley Children’s Hospital here in the city.

It was a great live concert. Thanks to a friend I’d only met online I found out it was a “closed” event, but we were both able to work some magic (THANKS SARAH!) and get some passes to the event to see Jon live. It really turned out well for both of us. I got to see Jon McLaughlin in concert live for the first time and my friend ended up winning a Gibson Epiphone guitar that was signed by Jon and the rest of the band.

This is Kyle and Sarah (in the purple dress) and another lady that worked for Hard Rock up in Chicago, but I didn’t catch her name.

If it hadn’t been for our great waitress, Megan, Kyle would have never won the guitar, but she was persistent and convinced Kyle to purchase some raffle tickets.

Read Kyle’s recollection of the events and see more photos at Jon McLaughlin, A Sweet Waitress and a Gibson Guitar.

A few thoughts about the night. The new memorabilia was really cool. Lots of great stuff if you love rock music and haven’t been to Hard Rock Cafe in awhile, it’s time to check it out again.

One thing I was thinking about during the performance is that it would have been nice if there was a live camera feed to the various LCD panel TV’s (which are actually in need of being updated) that are mounted on the walls in the restaurant. It’s true that Jon was right in front of us, but having a camera that could zoom in on the close-up of his hands as he masterfully played the keys would have been sweet!

I also ran into a good friend of mine, Nate, that works for the Riley Children’s Foundation. His team put on a great event and raised some great money for charity as well. If you’d be interested in finding out how you can help the foundation yourself, visit their website or let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Nate.

I also got to meet Scotty Davis of Radio NOW 100.9 Morning Drive fame. He’s recently new to Indianapolis after moving down here for the gig at 100.9. He’s from Minnesota, but now calls Indianapolis “home” as well. Seemed like a great, down to earth guy who’s really getting to enjoy the city. It’s too bad he had to head out a little early that night, but part of his job on the morning show calls him to be up at 3am. Just about the time I’m heading to bed!

Jon’s going to be performing again tonight in Indianapolis as part of the Indianapolis Colts FanFest events. I’ll be posting about it later.

17
Jun

Take a 10-yr Old’s Advice - It’s worth it!

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Elementary, Environment, Government, Indianapolis Star, Local Businesses, People, Students

Wynn Brower isn’t really the person you’d expect to be taking advice from these days but it turns out this Bloomington resident has got some stuff many of us should probably be thinking more about.

For a class science project he determined that his family could save a $1/day by just turning off their computer at night. Multiply that be how ever many computers you’ve got going while you sleep, multiplied by the number of homes like yourself and you’ve got a big savings in energy every single night.

It doesn’t stop there though, what if the city governments did it as well?

Wynn demonstrated how he used a device to test the energy use of a laptop and desktop computer, then extrapolated the results to the county’s 550 computers. He came up with a savings of $25,000 a year if all computers were turned off at the end of the workday.

Lot’s of people talk about being "green" and conscious about the environment. I think there are loads of opportunities out there for everyone to make an impact in our city that don’t require buying a hybrid or installing solar panels on our roofs.

Why aren’t we hearing more about these little ways we can all do our part?

10-year-old tells county how to save $25,000 | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

08
Jun

Flooding Information on Disaster Declarations, Shelters, Closings

Author: Jason Bean, Category: News, WISH - Channel 8, Weather

Here’s a link to get more information about closings, disaster areas and shelters.

Flooding Information on WISHTV8

IndyChannel 6 has collected some really good photos from readers of their experiences and views of the flooding

08
Jun

You’ve Come Along Way Baby

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Health, Humor, Indianapolis Star, News, Weather

My brother brought my attention to this photo that was on the front page of the IndyStar website this morning.

Seems like a good time for a smoke right? Carrying a kid across a flooded road or something? I mean you want to protect them from danger right? All this rain and flooding has been killing people. Yep, so does smoking!

Guess smoking really is a stress reliever. I’m sure this situation was pretty stressful. Oh wait! It’s not even lit. Probably a good thing for the boy.

At least one of the three butts in this picture are still dry.

03
Jun

ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Coming to Indiana

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, Charities, Families, Local Media, People, Real Estate, Volunteers

Do you know a real local hero in our community? The producers at ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition are looking for a family and a home to feature in their TV show.

I just saw this post from Roger at I Choose Indy and thought I’d spread the news.

I know a family that might be a great one to feature on the show, I’ll talk to some friends about nominating them.

If you’re familiar with the show then you probably also know they’ll be needing some volunteers. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for more information.