Abdul

I look at sporting events the way Fred Flintstone would look at the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. But even though I do not know sports, but I do understand the fundamental truth that everyone loves a winner - and life is lot easier for you when you do win.

I was Downtown Saturday night in my favorite cigar bar and watering hole as the Pacers played the New York Knicks at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. There was a lot of excitement in the room as the Pacers and Knicks went back and forth with the Pacers walking away with a win and moving on to the Eastern Conference finals. I watched happily as Spike Lee walked away dejected, his team in defeat.

The Pacers have come a long way from the "Throw Down in Motown" a few years ago. This was not the team that seemed to be in the news every other day because someone was engaging in thuggish behavior. I used to joke that if a Pacer ever fired a gun at you, not to worry. If he shot the gun the way he did the basketball, it would never hit you. The team has come a long way since then.

Winning is not only the best way to have all your prior sins forgiven, but if you have to ask for some assistance down the road, say if you're negotiating a new deal over the operational costs and management of Bankers Life, you can negotiate a lot better if you have a championship under your belt than if you don't. When you win, fans show up. They come not only to the stadium, but they come to all the places around the stadium. There are tens of thousands of jobs that are attached to a viable Downtown and when the Pacers win, they help make the case that they are a valuable asset to the community and it makes it easier to make the ultimate sales pitch that we all know is coming.

Now, with Indianapolis strapped for cash in a lot of places and revenues not being up to pre-recession levels in the foreseeable future, some tough negotiations are going to be in order over Bankers Life. I don't think the city should rollover and give the Pacers whatever they want but we should take into account they are a winning team that does add to the quality of life in both tangible and intangible ways. Winning makes life easier, but not necessarily on the wallet.

Hopefully, as the city and Pacers go forward post-whatever happens on the road to the championship all parties will keep in mind that winning is great but being mindful of the taxpayers' wallets is more important. Somewhere in there is a happy medium, best of luck to both teams in finding it.

The city of Indianapolis is finally preparing to address Downtown's panhandling issue. And it's about time because panhandlers are costing us money.

An ordinance introduced by City-County Councilor Jeff Miller would strengthen the city's current ordinance. It would create a "No Solicitation Zone" that prohibits panhandling and passive solicitation (holding of signs, shaking of change cups) within the mile square (bordered by North, South, East and West streets) and around Lucas Oil Stadium and Victory Field.

The ordinance would also restrict panhandling outside of Downtown. It would prohibit panhandling between 5 p.m. - 8 a.m. And panhandling would be banned near a building entrance, parking meter, crosswalk, intersection or off-ramp.

If this seems a little harsh, here's a newsflash: Panhandlers are doing more than just taking money from the "willing" they are costing Indianapolis quite a bit of cash. According to the folks in the convention business, Indianapolis lost ten meetings in the past two years which cost us nearly $6.3 million in visitor spending. And what was the key factor in those decisions? Panhandling. And if that isn't enough for you, I'm also told that there are currently six active proposals worth nearly $20 million in spending that are at risk because the folks who make the decision to come to Indianapolis are concerned about the panhandling. If you're still not convinced, here's some more evidence for you: Convention organizers say nine previously booked groups worth $52.9 million in visitor spending may not come back in the future, and in some cases, may cancel existing meetings due to panhandling concerns.

So because of panhandlers, Indianapolis could lose up to $80 million in visitor spending and convention business. That $80 million generates a lot of tax revenue which helps pay for police, fire and infrastructure so you don't have to.

If you're worried the ordinance might crack down on free speech, that shouldn't be too much of a concern. Similar laws have been passed in Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale and San Antonio. And before my friends at the American Civil Liberties Union get too sue happy, there is case law on the books from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the Ft. Lauderdale ordinance which Indy's ordinance is modeled after. Sorry, guys.

Now with that said, I think there are still some areas of the proposal that are going to need to be hammered out. Particularly, how will this affect charities and not-for-profits when they raise money or collect coats or school supplies on days when the Colts, Pacers or Indians are playing? The question is when those groups are soliciting donations, do they fall under the ordinance's umbrella or whether an exemption could be carved out for not-for-profits as long as they are registered and have a tax ID number.

Regardless, this proposal is long overdue. There isn't anyone with common sense and 20/20 vision who can't see that panhandling is not only a problem, but it's also costing Indianapolis millions of dollars. If we can't round them up and ship them off, at least we can stop subsidizing them.

I will freely admit at the start of this column that the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police and I have been at odds with each other for the past few years regarding the David Bisard case.

The FOP last week voted to rescind its representation of David Bisard, who, while on duty as an Indianapolis police officer in 2010, was involved in an auto crash which killed one motorcyclist and seriously injured two others. Bisard was accused of driving under the influence but due either to incompetence or conspiracy he was not taken to the proper facility for the blood draw. Former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi decided to drop the drunk driving charges, but they were re-filed by current Prosecutor Terry Curry and the matter is making its way through the legal system. Bisard was arrested again last week on drunk driving charges stemming from an incident in Lawrence.

Back in December 2010, the FOP voted to pay for Bisard's legal defense since he was on the clock when the crash occurred. There was some question back then as to whether the vote was truly reflective of the will of the FOP. I wrote on my blog Indiana Barrister at the time that Bisard's supporters may have stacked the deck since only 100 members of the 1,700 voting member organization showed up to vote. President Bill Owensby took issue with that accusation and told me that Bisard was entitled to due process. At the time I told Owensby that while Bisard was entitled to due process, I did not think he was entitled to an FOP-paid defense - and that they were making a big mistake in providing it.

It would have been one thing if the FOP had a policy of defending every officer who is accused of wrongdoing if the alleged activity occurs while they on the clock, but that is not the policy. For example, back in 2009, Officer Candi Perry was charged with official misconduct and false reporting for allegedly keeping information from detectives in a homicide investigation. Perry maintained her innocence and told my colleagues at RTV 6 that she turned over all pertinent information over to detectives but she would not give up the name of her witness because the witness did not trust police. The FOP did not defend Perry in her trial, even though she was found not guilty of any wrongdoing.

Some have said that the FOP did not come to Perry's defense because she was black and female and not part of the "good old boy network." I have never been willing to go down that road, but it does reveal an inconsistency in the FOP's decision-making process when it comes to defending its members. How else do you explain a decision to defend someone accused of driving drunk and killing someone versus not defending someone accused of not giving detectives every detail regarding a murder investigation where the original information provided led to the arrest of the suspect?

Luckily, the FOP, or at least the members that decided to show up to vote, made the right call this time. They voted 77-18 to rescind his legal representation. Unfortunately the decision only comes after hundreds of thousands of dollars in members' dues have been spent defending this individual who, while entitled to due process, should have never been entitled to access the resources of the men and women of law enforcement who know how to obey the law.

Unless Gov. Mike Pence says "no" and takes out his veto pen, SB 621 will become the law of the land here in the Hoosier state. In case you are not a member of the political class because you actually work for a living, SB 621 was legislation that reorganized Marion County Government.

It gave the mayor more control over the budget to rein in overspending by County offices by forcing them, every six months, to get the Mayor's Office to sign off on any overspending if their budgets exceed incoming revenue. It eliminates the at-large city-county council positions after the current office holders' terms expire. It creates a central counting place for absentee ballots during the election, and a few other things that are really inside baseball.

Democrats have yelled at the top of their lungs that this measure has been nothing but a giant power grab and it makes the mayor the second most powerful man in the state after the governor. They also lamented that non-Marion County individuals (i.e. the 125 members of the General Assembly who don't have districts in Marion County) are telling Indianapolis how to conduct its business (even though that's what the General Assembly does for every town and municipality).

However, as Democrats blame everybody and their mother for the evil that is SB 621, they are leaving out one crucial force. Without the Marion County Democrats, SB 621 would have never have happened. Going into session, it was highly unlikely that Mayor Greg Ballard would have gotten anything he asked for in 621. However, the Democrats' behavior made SB 621 necessary, and the more they did, the more they gave outstate Republican lawmakers a reason to vote for the measure. Allow me to spell it out for you:

2011 - Marion County Sheriff overspends budget by $6 million, $1.2 million of that is on personnel.

January 2012 - Democrats take control over the City-County Council. First order of business, reduce the representation of Republicans on Council Committees. So while Democrats have a 16-13 majority on the Council, they have virtually super-majorities on almost every committee.

October 2012 - In an effort to solve a budget shortfall, Council Democrats make a bad situation worse by voting to levy a $15 million PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) against the Capitol Improvement Board. State officials warned them that taking the PILOT would have grave consequences because when they bailed out the CIB a few years back, the money was not supposed to be used for anything else.

December 2012 - The State Board of Accounts later issues a letter saying such a PILOT would violate state law because the Council did not follow the proper procedures necessary to levy a PILOT.

2012 - Marion County Sheriff overspends budget by $11 million, $1.7 million is on "personnel" and $1.1 million of that is on "supplies."

February 2013 - During Senate Local Government Committee hearing, Democratic At-Large City-County Councilor Pam Hickman calls Republican Senators "nazis" for passing SB 621 out of committee.

April 2013 - Black Democrats say discrimination (racism) is at the bottom of SB 621.

So let's see if we have this straight, you have bad fiscal management on the part of local officials that is driving the city into a financial hole. You have a Council that not only doesn't know how to follow the law, but instead incurs the wrath of state lawmakers. And when individuals take steps to mitigate their counterproductive behavior, Democrats call them racists and Nazis.

If I were Mayor Ballard, I would send the Democrats a gift basket, because if any group was deserves credit for getting SB 621 through the legislature, it was them.

Ok, although I am a big fan of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and we have been friends for years, even I was a bit taken aback when I saw the Google alert come across my computer screen that "Hizzoner" was talking about investing $6 million in a stadium for cricket. I was like, "Say what?" The Mayor and I had chatted right before his trip to India, and I wanted to make sure he hadn't contracted malaria and said something that didn't seem to make much sense on the surface. But before I hopped on the next plane to Hyderabad, I did a little more investigation and got some clarity in the manner.

First of all, it wasn't a cricket stadium the Mayor wanted to build. It is a multi-use international sports complex that could eventually help Indianapolis land the first U.S. amateur national cricket championship. This is all taking place over on the Eastside. You know that part of town that everyone says is grossly underdeveloped and is usually ignored by the rest of the city? It's called the World Sports Park and it's located at 1313 S. Post Road. It sits on 50 acres of land and completion is scheduled for 2014. There will be no permanent seating, so we're not talking about another Lucas Oil Stadium or Conseco, oops, Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

What we are talking about is the city of Indianapolis expanding its efforts to become a world-class city. This is where cricket comes in. Unbeknownst to a lot of Americans cricket is highly popular in other parts of the world, particularly India, Pakistan, South Africa and England. I've attached a map of where cricket is played so you can see for yourself. And as Indianapolis attracts more international employees at major companies like Eli Lilly and Rolls Royce, there is a growing demand. The game attracts more than 600 million viewers around the world on an annual basis. And just mentioning that Indianapolis may be trying to do something with cricket generated quite a bit of worldwide press.

Oh, and if you're wondering where the money from all this would come from, it's from the Rebuild Indy fund, the proceeds from the city's waterworks transfer to Citizens Energy Group.

Indianapolis has had a long history of being home to a variety of sports teams and events. And while football and basketball are the first two that come to mind, the field is expanding to encompass broader tastes. A new professional men's soccer team affiliated with the North American Soccer League will be starting up in 2014, hopefully ready to build on the success of F.C. Indiana, the city's pro women's team, which, in its decade in play, has established a legacy that includes winning two league and two cup titles, helping to develop 56 national team players, 11 World Cup participants, 12 Olympic participants, two national team head coaches, and two youth national team coaches.

The Indianapolis Hoydens, also a women's team, is playing rugby in Lawrence. And then, of course, there is the Indy AlleyCats, our professional ultimate disk (Frisbee) league, which is now in its second season and plays at Kuntz Stadium on West 16th Street.

Diversifying the city's sports portfolio is not necessarily a bad thing. There is plenty of room for traditional sports as well as those with International flavor. We can have a pork tenderloin and curry, if we're willing to broaden our horizons just a bit.

When it comes to sports, Indianapolis should be an all-rounder. (It's a cricket term, look it up.)

Although a lot of the focus in Senate Bill 621, the Marion County Government/Power Grab reform bill, has been on whether to eliminate the at-large City-County Council seats, the legislation includes much more substantive, far-reaching provisions that are, in my opinion, far more important than whether four politicians keep their part-time jobs.

Part of SB 621 would give the Mayor more authority over the budget. Currently, the Mayor and other county officials submit a budget, the council votes, the Mayor signs or vetoes and that's pretty much it. By giving the Mayor more budgetary control we "marry accountability with responsibility". None of the County offices (Auditor, Clerk, Coroner, Prosecutor, Surveyor, Assessor or Sheriff) play a role in voting or signing a budget. The Mayor and the Council are publicly accountable for the finances of the city. As a result, the County offices are disengaged but more specifically they are not held publicly accountable for their spending and the adjustment of taxes that go to fund their spending.

When was the last time you saw people marching in the streets demanding the Sheriff quit spending so much when the Council and the Mayor raise a tax to fund him? No, of course you don't. They go after the Council and the Mayor. Do you see people getting upset when the Sheriff says he needs more funding to adequately provide public safety and the Council and the Mayor keep cutting his budget? Yes, you do. Why? Because people already believe the Mayor has this authority and, in fact, he doesn't. The result is that the Sheriff (and related offices) know they are unaccountable.

Practically speaking, you can't balance a $1.2 billion budget with a $50 million operating shortfall if you can only control (reduce) spending of $700 million of that budget. This is either a unified system of government or it is not but we can't continue to be financially "half pregnant," our issue are too great.

And if you are still not convinced that the Mayor needs more budgetary control, take a look at how the Sheriff's budget has grown since 2008, even though control of the police department was put back under the Mayor's office.

● 2008 - $87.4 million allocated / $92.6 million spent
● 2009 - $85.7 million allocated / $85.3 million spent
● 2010 - $93.8 million allocated / $97.2 million spent
● 2011 - $103.5 million allocated / $109.8 million spent
● 2012 - $101.7 million allocated / $113.2 million spent
In the past three years the Sheriff has overspent his budget by more than $20 million. Now the Sheriff would say that it is the cost of inmate health care that is driving this overspending. There's no doubt that inmate costs are rising, but how does that explain overspending by nearly $3 million on staff in 2011 and 2012 and more than $1.1 million on supplies in 2012? Is this what Marion County Democrats are defending? If SB 621 is a power grab, then so be it. Someone has to act like a fiscal grown up around here.

When the Indiana Senate Tax & Fiscal Policy last week voted to send mass transit to a study committee, some people thought this might be the end of the line. I am a little more optimistic. There is no question that Indianapolis and Central Indiana need to expand its transit system. I am more sold on the bus portion of the mass transit plan than the rail, but the expansion needs to happen. I support mass transit expansion not because it will attract young professionals to the city, but it will help folks who already live here to get to work.

A few weeks ago GEICO announced it was opening up a customer service center in Carmel near 103rd and Illinois. An enhanced bus system will get people to those jobs. In fact, whenever I hear about a jobs announcement in the area, I wonder how will we be able to get the people who need that work to that work? If I may steal a line from my good friend State Rep. Jerry Torr, "you now have the right to work in Indiana, now it's time to make sure you can get to work."

So what will a study reveal that has not been revealed in at least 12 of the studies done over the past 15 years? I doubt very much. But here is what it will do. It will give advocates a final chance to put the political smackdown on opponents who are really using the study committee process to kill the bill. They can do it by coming in with every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed. In addition, they can really concentrate and focus their attention in those legislative districts where lawmakers are being either squeamish or downright hostile.

The way to do it is simple. I would look at how much have been spent on roads in that district and compare it to how much mass transit expansion would cost. It also takes care of the argument that someone is paying for a bus they will never use, I would argue they have paid more for roads that they have never used. And the line that no mass transit system has ever paid for itself is true - just like no road or bridge, absent some tolls, have ever paid for themselves either.

While I would like to have seen the mass transit bill move forward - and there is still a chance it might because the bill that was amended by the Senate will still have to be reconciled with a House version, which passed without sending it to a study - I am glad mass transit managed to get this far. In the past, it either died in committee or never even got out of the discussion phase. This is the furthest the discussion has ever gotten in the Indiana General Assembly, and if it takes just a few more stops before it can be put in the hands of the voters, then I say sit back and enjoy the ride. Just make sure you stay on course.

We recently received data on Indiana's unemployment rate. And, from what I can tell, the last person you want to be in the Hoosier state is a high school dropout who lives in Vermillion County. Here's why. The overall data shows that the state's unemployment rate inched up a bit from 8.6 percent in January to 8.7 percent in February, however that same data showed the state adding 5,800 jobs that month.

According to the Department of Workforce Development, sectors showing significant gains in February include: Manufacturing (3,400), Construction (2,700), Trade, Transportation & Utilities (1,400), and Financial Activities (1,100). Areas that showed a decrease in jobs were the Private Educational & Health Services (-1,000), and Leisure and Hospitality (-800) sectors.

With respect to counties, Vermillion County had the highest unemployment rate at 13.8 percent while Hamilton County had the lowest at 6.5 percent. Indianapolis' unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. Now, here is where it gets interesting. If you are a college graduate in Indiana, the unemployment rate for your peers is 3.2 percent. If you didn't finish high school, there's a good chance that 19 percent of the people you hang out with have no job.

At the national level, the figures are quite telling. According the Bureau of Labor statistics here are the average unemployment rates in 2012 based on the level of education achieved:

Doctoral degree - 2.5 percent
Professional Degree - 2.1 percent
Master's Degree - 3.5 percent
Bachelor's Degree - 4.5 percent
Associate's Degree - 6.2 percent
Some college - 7.7 percent
High School Diploma - 8.3 percent
Less than a High School Diploma - 12.4 percent

Now let's throw in some more data for fun. Approximately 185,000 Hoosier kids are in schools labeled as D or F. There are close to 124,000 18-25 year olds without a high school diploma and another 574,000 25+ year olds without a high school diploma, meanwhile we have about 290,000 unemployed.

Okay, Abdul. What's the moral of the story? The moral of the story is pretty simple. The better educated you are, the less likely you are to be out of work and on the government dole. And if we can get kids out of failing schools by whatever legal means necessary, they are less likely to be dropouts and less likely to be part of 290,000 people who are out of work.

Now, does a degree guarantee you won't lose a job? Not at all. I am living proof of that when my former employer and I parted ways nearly two years ago. But I knew having a couple professional degrees under my belt as well as the drive and necessary survival skills to, as we used to say in old neighborhood in Chicago, get a good hustle going, would make life a lot easier. So if you have found yourself in the ranks of the unemployed, you might want to take a look at your education level and see if that's part of what is keeping you there.

Readers offered some pretty interesting feedback to last week's column about crime in Indianapolis, which is good because violent crime continues to trend in the wrong direction.

Our city's criminal homicide rate is still ticking upward, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's website. In the week ending March 9, logged 22 murders for the year. By March 16, they'd reached 27. Granted, those figures are preliminary, but they indicate a 50 percent increase over the same period in 2012. Aggravated assaults were still up, but only 4.3 percent; they were up 5.6 percent the week prior. One promising stat: Crimes against property this year are down 11 percent.

So how do we deal with crime — youth violence, in particular?

Rev. Charles Harrison of the Ten-Point Coalition, a local organization that has been dealing with violence on the streets for years, gave me some sage wisdom in a conversation. He said things are not so bad that they are spinning out of control, but it is not out of the question for things to get to the point where crime spreads out to Hamilton, Hendricks, Hancock, Boone and Johnson counties.

Rev. Harrison suggests holding parents accountable for the actions of their kids, especially if the kids are out after curfew. State law already allows for fines to be levied against parents if their kids get out of control and that just might be the way to go. A number of you echoed that position via e-mail and Facebook. One person even suggested that if a juvenile commits a crime with a gun, then the parent should be criminally charged with neglect. Others have suggested denying certain public assistance benefits to problem families and mandating counseling.

Another idea floated involved a safe have partnership between the city, businesses, churches and colleges and universities to partner over the spring and summer. Local churches would provide the space, businesses would provide funding, colleges and universities would provide the students for positive mentoring and tutoring and the city would oversee the entire program. Thus kids would be off the streets and connected with positive role models.

In addition, the city needs to continue to step up its game, not so much in more police on the street, but by using some of its other agencies to shut down crime hot spots. It has already begun with closing down some of these banquet and dance halls, which are serving as havens for underage drinking parties. But it should also go after apartment complexes and other facilities that just breed the criminal element. Have any of you been near 42nd Street and Post Road lately? If so, you know exactly what I am talking about.

To keep crime from getting out of control a comprehensive approach is in order. The city not only needs to get tough, but smart on crime. To their credit, Public Safety Director Troy Riggs and IMPD Police Chief Rick Hite have already created efficiency teams to analyze resource deployment and the root causes of violence. My hope is that by summer we will be more worried about mosquitoes and less about bullets.

You've probably noticed that Indianapolis has seen a sharp increase in the number of criminal homicides as of late. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's web page, as of the week ending March 9, the number of murders was at 22. That number was 17 as of last year, which makes for a nearly 30 percent increase. Not good news by any measurement. However, before I jumped to the conclusion as to whether we were turning into Dodge City, I looked at a couple other crime stats, aggravated assaults, residential burglary and vehicle thefts.

Here is what I found:

Aggravated assaults were up 5.62 percent, from 249 last year to 263 this year. This is important because in many instances the aggravated assault would have turned into a murder had the assailant had better aim or the emergency medical response team got there a little later. I then looked at residential burglaries, because these types of crimes can really hit home (pardon the pun), those were down more than 11 percent from 1,809 in 2012 to 1,598 in 2013. And then finally, vehicle thefts, which are often crimes of opportunity because someone left the keys in the car, those numbers were also down slightly more than 11 percent from 1,008 last year to 891 this year.

Why did I look at those numbers? I am a firm believer that when you look at crime, you should take a comprehensive look at statistics. Had we seen steep increases in all four of those areas, I would really start to worry, particularly since this is only March and if things were that bad when it was still cold outside, just wait until the criminals decided to step out and get some fresh air and enjoy the nice weather. By seeing drops in residential burglary and vehicle thefts and the aggravated assault rate increasing only by single digits, that tells me that there is ample time for the public safety community and law enforcement to get things under control.

However, with that said, the increased murder rate is still disturbing, especially since for the last three years in a row the city's murder rate has been less than 100, and no one can remember the last time that happened. What I am hearing from my friends who work in public safety is that a primary reason for the increase in murders can be tied back to drug dealers stepping up their "collection" efforts. In other words, man owes drug dealer money, man doesn't pay, man ends up in a box. For example, the recent shooting at Lafayette Square where the victim was found with in a car with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, all signs point to a drug dealer trying to collect and send a message to the rest of his or her debtors. Unfortunately, this is the end result of what happens when you engage in counterproductive behavior, bad things usually happen that involve gunfire. And unfortunately, they can escalate, sometimes even at funerals where innocent people get hurt when they are caught in the crossfire.

So what is the answer to all this? I have a few ideas, but they will have to wait until my next column. In the meanwhile, feel free to let me know what you think. You can e-mail me at abdul@indypolitics.org or leave a comment here at NUVO.net. Heck, if you have a good idea, I'll be happy to steal it, since we are talking about crime and all.