For release Jan. 4 and thereafter (670 words) A mile down the street from my home, construction is set to begin on a $15-million parking garage and retail center. Its purpose is to relieve congestion in a trendy Indianapolis bar district called Broad Ripple. Citizens are subsidizing the 350-space garage with $6.3 million in parking-meter revenues. Despite taxpayer questions about using public dollars on a purely commercial endeavor, the city says the project is justified…

For immediate release (679 words). When I teach the economic elements of competitiveness, I use the case of a professional athlete like Albert Pujols, long-time slugging first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals who will be playing for the Los Angeles Angels next year. The skills that make Pujols such a tremendous baseball player — upper and lower body strength, eye-hand coordination and quickness — would undoubtedly make him a phenomenal mower of lawns. Indeed,…

(Jan. 1, 2011) — The thinking here about what is wrong with this Legislature has centered on gambling. That is gambling not in the gestalt but in the specific — state sanctioned, licensed and taxed. And no, this is not a sermon. Moral concerns are only part of it. A citizenry putting its faith in numbers, the flip of cards or the roll of a dice makes for a weak economic, social and political base.…

For immediate release (446 words). Every day each of us makes choices that influence our own health: what we eat, how much we exercise, whether we take our medications. These are by nature private choices and private responsibilities. Some health choices, however, are collective. Outdoor air quality compromised by industrial pollution or mosquito control are good examples of health issues that are by nature public choices and public responsibilities. Where does smoking in bars lie?…

Editors:  Next week’s column is released early to accomodate holiday publication schedules (546 words) Light is a central component of the religious holidays that we celebrate this time of year. As the days shorten and the cold weather comes upon us, our faith traditions pay homage to the divine light that affirms our highest hopes. On a secular note, worldly sources of lighting have become a political football. On one hand, environmentalist and progressives tout…

For release Dec. 21 and thereafter (670 words) Changing the selection process for the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) board is no silver bullet, but it is an essential step toward transformation of the state’s largest school system. The elected board has had decades to shake things up and failed. It’s time to give the mayor and City-County Council a chance to find people of courage to lead a bone-deep restructuring of IPS, as urged Sunday…

This time of year, with children all over Indiana asking pointed questions about a man in a red suit and white beard, might be a good time to ask whether a beloved figment of our imagination is real — No, Mayor Ballard, there is no such thing as mass transit. A stack of independent research predicts no “mass” and very little “transit” in a billion-dollar Indianapolis proposal slipped into the public square during the Christmas…

The Central Indiana Transit Task Force has identified several problems in the Indianapolis region, including a weakening regional center, congestion and air pollution. But the Task Force’s proposal to spend $1.3 billion improving transit, nearly half of which would go to a commuter-rail line from Noblesville to downtown Indianapolis, is the wrong solution to these problems. Transit may offer mobility to people who lack access to an automobile, but for almost everyone else transit works…

For the use of the membership only) Napoleon had journalists pegged: They’re the ones who ride down from the hills after the battle to shoot the wounded. This journalist accepts that characterization. Indeed, it should be applied to this critical assessment of the battle that has been the Daniels administration. First, there is no argument that Indiana was fortunate to have a man of Mitch Daniels’ ability in its public service. I would list his…