up downtown may 2013

Up Downtown / Indianapolis 05.13 On The Web At: www.updowntown.net

It’s 1913...Omni Severin, History Centre Offer Two Unique & Diverse Views Of What Our Downtown Was Like 100 Years Ago!

Two very different sides of 1913. At left the then-new Severin Hotel’s grand lobby, while at right The WL Brown Grocery following the city’s worst-ever flood. The store was lo-cated at 1405 Silver Ave., close to the White River, just a bit south of Morris Street in a location that’s now Little Valley Park. Read all about 1913 starting On Page Three.


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Downtown Is Reliving 1913 (Only Without So Much Water & Mud!)

1913 was a century ago, but downtowners and visitors can reconnect to that year both with their eyes and forks as the year 1913 is the focus of a major exhibit at the Indiana History Centre and the name of the Omni Severin’s popular new restaurant featuring all Indiana food and commemorating the hotel’s centenary.

The two different aspects of 1913 — disaster and eats — happened the same time strictly by coincidence, but visitors and residents will come away from recalling both with a new understanding of what the city’s downtown was like 100 years ago.

The History Centre’s Get Connected theme is carried through with another part of the “you are there” series featuring downtown in the aftermath of the city’s worst flood which struck in March 1913. That’s a photo taken at the time above.

We’ve been to other exhibits in this series, but the 1913 flood one, titled “A City Under Water” is the most impressive and was one of the most difficult for staff and curators at the Indiana History Centre to achieve because, according to Media Relations Direc-tor Amy Lamb, it was close to impossible to accomplish without getting visitors either wet or muddy. But somehow it works as re-enactors lead visitors through a relief cen-tre following the flood which hit downtown, the north side and most of the Midwest with unprecedented water and wind.

Communities across the Midwest were affected by a variety of weather patterns culminating in the tragic series of events that left many under water during the Great Flood of 1913 which was at its most severe 24th through 26th March of that year. The devastation was extensive — hundreds of people died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

But even after the waters receded, many parts of Indiana were still struggling to re-cover. Without federal agencies such as FEMA or even a local division of the American Red Cross (“They came through and went right on to Dayton!” a re-enactor told us when we asked where the Red Cross was in 1913.), local citizens banded together to care for their own communities.

At the History Centre guests are invited to be a part of the activity taking place at Wulf’s Hall Relief Station on 31st March 1913, where the Indianapolis General Relief Committee for Flood Sufferers organised aid for the west side of downtown. Relief bundles are being packed, survivors are requesting aid, food donations are being or-ganised, typhoid shots are being advised (with the nearest location for same at what’s now the west plaza by City Market — then Tomlinson Hall) and information is being collected and shared — all by re-enactors in period costumes — two of whom are seen in the photo above right.

Visitors can interact with folks portraying some of the real-life people who navigated the choppy waters of local relief efforts. Characters include flood survivors such as Albert and Ida Box, prominent businessmen like Frederic Ayres and Samuel Rauh, women assisting with the relief efforts such as Mary Emma Flanner and Jennie

Ralston (the governor’s wife). Guests may also hear stories of the neighbourhood from postman Fred Heylmann or flood rescue accounts from Doris Hoppe, an 18-year-old man who rowed his small boat throughout the night of the flood to save local resi-dents, including one lady stuck in her flooded home on top of her piano who almost pulled him to his death when he rowed inside to save her.

To bring the events of 1913 into the present day visitor’s understanding, Lamb told us that WISH-TV, Channel 8, volunteered their news staff and news sets to make a

simulated 1913 TV newscast, below, complete with weather bulletins using photos from the day in “reports”, as well as actual weather data to compile maps for faux “Flood Warnings” calling for a crest of “at least 23 feet”. In truth the river crested at 25 feet and when a levy failed on the night of 25th March 1913, much of the downtown west of West Street and along and west of the present day White River State Park was inundated to the 2nd floor of many homes. There’s even a bulletin that the water level

gauge just north of downtown on the White River “has washed away!” on the broadcast shown to visitors to the display.

Interesting also during the exhibit is the origin of some of the food items which Wulf’s Hall and other relief stations were handing out to survivors — from trains which were stranded in the city by the flood waters and were comman-

deered by the city’s mayor of the day with their freight and perishables distributed to the needy. While today such a move would likely result in litigation, charges and counter charges, in 1913 that was seen as a legitimate way to help people in need. In addition, food from basement home canning, eggs from people who kept hens and other items donated by those living in unflooded areas was also handed out and all citizens — including children — were given a ration of coffee!

Lamb noted, “The Indiana Experience brings both the people of the state and visitors from around the world a uniquely Indiana experience. Interactive and high-technology experiences allow the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) to share the tremendous ar-chival holdings of the IHS, including 1.7 million photographs, in easy, enjoyable and meaningful ways.”

Operating hours for the Indiana Experience are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Centre, home of the IHS and the Indiana Experience, is located at 450 W. Ohio St., downtown. For more informa-tion, call 232.1882 or visit www.indianahistory.org

It’s somewhat ironic that one of the sponsors of the 1913 Flood experience is the Omni Please Continue On Page Six


Severin Hotel, because the hotel is marking its own 100th year in 2013 and has undergone a remodel, re-theming of their food service and a total renova-tion of the restaurant, bar and lobby area.

According to Stan Jacobs, the Omni’s acting man-ager and director of sales & marketing, the hotel is proud to have reached it’s 100th year and in honour of the fact it was estab-lished in 1913 has renamed the main restaurant “1913 — showcasing Foods of Yesteryear With Farms of Today.”

Jacobs noted that almost all of the items on 1913’s plates are from local or area suppliers, including such well-known names as Fisher Farm Beef, Local Folks, King David Dogs, Miller Farm and Gunthorp Farm.

But the ties with 1913 go well beyond the restaurant as Jacobs and his crew have even put together a brochure with historic photos and some interest-

1913...

ing facts which will be available shortly in all rooms, at the front desk and for diners in the restaurant. Some of the facts of interest include:

—The hotel was built in 1913 by Henry Severin, a prominent developer, on property his family owned for over 40 years.

—The architectural firm Vonnegut & Bohn designed the $1 million hotel, with 400 rooms that included private baths, three passenger elevators, forced-filtered chilled air and was the first fire proof designed building in the state of Indiana. Bedford stone en-capsulated the first and second floors, red pressed brick for the upper floors and white terra cotta trimmings are on top — all still existing today.

—The Christamore Settlement Ball, a prestigious gala, was the first function held at the hotel on 22nd August 1913.

—In its heyday, from the 1913 opening through the 1930’s, the Hotel Severin, as it was originally known, thrived on the 300 passenger trains coming in and out of Union Sta-tion directly across the street.

But along with the mundane facts, Jacobs noted that the hotel has some fun stats to share as well:

— The original 1913 mailbox still serves as the working mailbox in the hotel today, making it one of, if not the oldest, working mailboxes in the city.

—The historic lobby area off Georgia Street features the original Austrian Crystal chandelier it opened with in 1913. The lobby was “flipped” later to allow entrances off Louisiana Street, making it easier for cars to pull up to the doors, but the original lobby area is still in use as a lounge, banqueting area and foyer for the ballrooms.

—On each elevator landing are dressers from the guestrooms of the original Hotel Severin and the chairs located in the boardroom lobby are from the

original dining area and are carved with the letter “S” for Severin.

—The marble staircase leading from the Severin Lobby to the mezzanine is original to the hotel and the original railings for the mezzanine were found in a Whiteland, Indiana barn, restored and replaced in their original setting.

—Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding all stayed at the hotel.

Jacobs noted that the hotel currently has 424 newly renovated guestrooms, 39 of which are suites with outdoor balconies and he added that the hotel has changed its name three times: from the original Severin Hotel to the Atkinson Hotel in 1966 when Warren Atkinson bought it and finally to the Omni Severin in 1990.

The hotel also beat the odds which befell many other grand hotels as it sat vacant from 1985 until 1988 and then underwent two years of expansion and a total rebuild by Indianapolis’ Mansur Development before reopening in 1990. Many other big city ho-tels which closed in the 70s and 80s never reopened, with many being demolished like Cincinnati’s Gibson and others being converted to offices like downtown’s Washington Hotel, Lexington’s Phoenix and Bloomington’s Graham Hotel.

Jacobs noted that along with the redecoration, new menus and more, the hotel’s naming for the lobby’s restaurants and bars has also been changed. “The Severin Bar replaced what used to be Olives Cigar and Martini Bar. The new 1913 Restaurant replaced what we called the Severin Grille (and before that Hot Tuna) and our new-est lobby bar, Wine Thief, replaced what was the bar part of the old Severin Bar and Grille! Whew, that was confusing!”

To end the confusion, head over to the Omni Severin, try a lunch or dinner in the 1913 Restaurant and pause before or after for a quiet drink in the Wine Thief or root for your team in the sports-bar themed Severin Bar...and look elsewhere in this issue of Up Downtown for our lunch review.

Continued From Page Three


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Food For Thought

INDIANAPOLIS—The word for lunch at downtown’s new 1913 Restaurant in the Omni Severin Hotel is local.

—Local suppliers of most everything on the menu and none much further than the state of Indiana’s borders.

—Local history as the room itself is named for the year, a century ago, when The Sev-erin Hotel first opened its doors to the public.

—Local audience as the hotel attempts to return to what hotel dining rooms did when I was a kid, which is to draw in local people for lunch or dinner and not just be “a hotel restaurant” catering the the travelling public.

From what we’ve seen thus far, 1913 accomplishes all of those goals wonderfully. The atmosphere in the room (the former Hot Tuna and Severin Restaurant space) is digni-fied and upscale. New furnishings have replaced old. The TV sets which were always such a distraction have been banished across the hall to the new Severin Bar and for better or worse, the buffets have been relegated to breakfasts only, with a new lunch and dinner menu which correctly states, “Showcasing Foods of Yesteryear With Farms of Today.”

It’s that last item which makes 1913 so unique downtown because literally from top to bottom the list of items on offer is from Indiana. That includes the wonderful Fischer Farm beef which is served up at lunch in huge 10-ounce patties served as you like (and that includes rare), as well as the Miller Farms chicken which is used for 1913’s chicken salad sandwiches. There’s also Capriole Farm goat cheese from Southern Indi-ana, Local Folks wonderfully coarse ground mustard and King David’s hot dogs on the menu, plus more.

But what makes the place so unique (along with the history of eating in a restored hotel which has been operating for a century) is the way in which the kitchen staff and chefs have combined the ingredients. It’s possible to start with good “stuff” and end up with a mess, but at 1913 everything’s been well thought-out, tested, tasted and tried with attention to both the look of the plates and what’s on them.

Menus themselves look like they are printed on aged parchment and not a single stone is left unturned.

We tried the Pickled & Jarred appetiser platter (at right), served on a wooden cut-ting board. It includes Seckler bread & butter pickles, pickled cherry tomatoes which were oh, so good and also oh, so spicy and salt & pepper pickled string and wax beans accompanied by lemon tarragon. The whole thing was accompanied by some great bread, though we will admit we liked the hot “house” bread each table receives even better, complete with butter served in glass creamers I recall from my youth and slightly sprinkled with sea salt. Delicious!

For the main course, we skipped the exotics (like wild arugula salad and shaved beer ham with Fair Oaks Cheddar and “a mess” of bluegill) in favour of burgers and a ten-derloin. All of the dishes we four ate came with the Omni Severin’s 1913 house-made

chips and without exception things came out as ordered and in huge portions. That alone was sad as with all we ate we failed (bad reviewer here) to even ask to see the dessert menu, but that gives us an excuse to go back early and often.

About the only negative side we can see to 1913 is the pricing, which we found to be a bit steep even for all those fresh local ingredients. Lunch for four with three non-alco-holic beverages but sans dessert came to almost $80, which when a tip was added for waiter Wilton’s flawless service sat our total bill right at $100. As we said: great food and super service but downtown on a weekday for lunch we’d feel a bit happier at $75 or $80 including that tip.

Will we be back? Definitely, though it won’t be quite as often as had the bill been just a tad less. I don’t know about you but while I don’t do many White Castle or Mickey D’s dollar menu lunches and we aren’t known by friends to skimp, we also can’t do very many lunches at $25 a pop and still make out electric bill and keep the phones on. You do get what you pay for, however, and you can look to see us back in 1913 again very soon — this time for dinner with dessert!

Bits & Bites, more downtown restaurant news... Look for the opening of PEARings about the time these words hit print. PEARings is long-time downtown resident Matt Meinema’s new “frozen yoghurt & beyond” shop opening at 6 West Washington Street in between T-Mobile and Rock Bottom in the heart of downtown. We had a recent breakfast with Meinema and he said he has no fear of the current yoghurt sellers downtown because he will offer a premium product and accompany it by a whole lot more than just coffee.

“In the mornings we will have a hot oatmeal bar with three different hot cereals, and we plan to offer breakfast crepes as well as sweet crepes throughout the day. We will have a grab-and-go lunch as well as coffees and espresso plus smoothies,” he noted, adding that seating for 50 inside his facility and 20 in the sidewalk cafe will go a long


way toward guaranteeing customers a place to relax, surf the net via free WiFi and more.

PEARings plans long hours — starting weekdays at 7 a.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. Nightly last call will be at 11 and the owner noted he does plan Sunday afternoon hours (1 to 9 p.m.) as well.

As of presstime, the last of the equipment was still being delivered and the painting finished though PEARings owner said he plans to be open by the first of May with a grand opening the week of the 8th.

Also downtown in the bits & bites column...we can confirm the demise (again) of the Bar at the Ambassador at 9th and Pennsylvania. The place has now opened and shut under several different operators three times. No word on who will try it next... Mean-while over on the canal, where The Left Bank went to the wall in October 2011, their old space in the Cosmopolitan has a sign up that a 2nd branch of the wonderful Fresco is coming soon. Fresco, as readers may recall, is the Italian Beef specialist located in Lockerbie Square on the patio side of O’Malia’s. Started by a gentleman with a recipe and dream, and his sons, dad has now retired to Kentucky Lake and the sons are con-tinuing his delicious food. We don’t have a date for the 2nd location’s opening, but look for us to be there enjoying the best Italian Beef sandwiches downtown — and be sure to ask for yours “wet”!

Also downtown if you haven’t been yet, Metro at 707 Mass. Ave. is back open for din-ner seven nights a week. Owner Jim Brown put many thousands into restoring and upgrading his 1860s building and it shows with solid wood panelling, an updated menu and a whole lot more. There are entrances on the Mass. Ave. side as well as off the Cultural Trail.

Welcome back to a newly-updated English Ivy’s (above) over at 944 North Alabama Street. They didn’t exactly plan to remodel just now, but a fire in their kitchen in mid-March pushed their hand, so a complete update in the kitchen and work in the dining room has the place back open and serving some wonderful eats. In addition, they took advantage of the break to totally steam clean the seats, carpeting and more to make the remaining smoke from years of allowing cigarettes to finally vanish. The kitchen is complete with a new oven which cooks foods from the inside out, sealing in some re-ally great flavours. And of course they have continued their famous “two fer” Tuesdays with buy one burger and get one free and same with appetisers, as well as their won-derful steak & egg breakfasts both Saturdays and Sundays. Staff is happy to be back after their unscheduled three weeks off, too, we’re told.

And finally, this reviewer always worries about changes in any long-time fave venue which is why we will be curious in May to go back to our haunt at the Indiana State Museum’s L.S. Ayres Tea Room. This is what we were sent by the museum’s press of-fice that has us worried (hopefully needlessly)...

“Dining is going to become a new experience at the Indiana State Museum. Visitors have asked for more local food offerings and the chance to host more special events inside the historic L.S. Ayres Tea Room. This Spring, they’ll get both.

“Indiana State Museum has turned to Indianapolis’ Kahn’s Catering to transform the Canal Café and Terrace from a traditional cafeteria-style restaurant to a farmers mar-ket experience filled with healthy, fresh options — from made-from-scratch soups and fresh salads to gourmet sandwiches.

“As part of those changes, the L.S. Ayres Tea Room — a re-creation of the beloved res-taurant inside the former downtown L.S. Ayres department store — will temporarily close through 12th May for minor renovations. A result of increased demand from the public, the room will move from walk-in dining to more programming, room rental and nostalgic “high tea” experiences. While Kahn’s is fine-tuning the menu, it will still include long-time favourites, such as chicken velvet soup, pot pie and chicken salad.

“The Tea Room also will be available by reservation for groups of 20 or more, and for private functions with groups of 20 to 65 with rental fee. While the Tea Room will look similar, visitors will see a few changes from new paint to new photographs on the walls and artifacts from the original Tea Room, which opened in 1905.

“The Indiana State Museum signed a three-year contact with Kahn’s Catering to handle all of its food and beverage services. Kahn’s is known for the quality of its food, drink and service. In addition to being the caterer of choice for the Indiana State Mu-seum, it also is the caterer of choice for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Eiteljorg Museum and The Palladium in Carmel, where it also operates the Basile Café.”

Tune in next month or in June and see what this reviewer has to say. Meanwhile I bought a copy of the Ayres Tea Room Cookbook at the museum shop and will be fine-tuning my Chicken Velvet Soup skills. Happy May!

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June’sDeadline

Tuesday 14th MayPapers On Street: Friday 24th May

“April is the cruellest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot, and he might have been writing about the seasonal nature of American cinema. The period between Christmas and the beginning of the Summer blockbuster season usually means paltry fare at multiplexes around the coun-try. You might as well choose a film to watch by tossing a coin.

Here’s a sample of what is currently showing: Scary Movie 5. (Pass). GI Joe: Retaliation. (Pass). Jurassic Park 3D. (Why bother?). Tyler Perry’s Temptation. (Seriously?). Evil Dead. (Barf).

Olympus Has Fallen looked promising. But, the filmmakers opted for two hours of endless blood-spilling and flag-waving. Perhaps they should have called it Evil Dead North Koreans?

So I chose to see Andrew Niccol’s The Host without much hope of having an enjoyable theatrical experience.

I am not a fan of Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight books and films. They seem too pre-cious, angst-laden, and just plain silly for an old fart like me. I will admit that the films have a quirky, rebellious charm. For teenagers and young adults they have a near addict-level appeal. I find it a bit scary.

The Host is Twilight’s not-too-distant cousin. Instead of vampires, the threat here is from aliens who have the ability to turn humans into a slightly different type of “living dead.”

As the film’s opening voice-over reveals, earth has been invaded and aliens are now in con-trol of the planet: “Earth is at peace. There is no hunger. No violence. The environment is healed. Honesty, courtesy, and kindness are practiced by all.” Doesn’t sound all bad, does it?

The aliens are body snatchers, wandering “souls” that need physical bodies — hosts — to survive. They have travelled the universe for millennia, conquering planets and bringing with them their own brand of Stepford Wives-like obedience and order.

But some humans resist. “Our world has never been more perfect,” continues the voice-over. “But it is no longer our world.” Do these humans not know when they are onto a good thing? Or is thinking for yourself and controlling your own destiny more important than, say, avoiding war and global destruction? Apparently, for the holdouts on earth, it is.

Melanie Stryder (Oscar-nominated Irish teenage actress, Saoirse Ronan) is a young rebel who, along with her younger brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), has been able to avoid capture and “reprogramming” by the aliens. The film opens with her luring pursuing aliens away from her hiding brother. Finding herself trapped, she jumps through a high-rise win-dow to certain death.

But she does not die. She is reanimated with alien technology and her body serves as host for a soul called “Wanderer.” The only way to tell a “human” from a hosted alien is by look-ing at the eyes. The alien-assimilated hosts have luminescent, Caribbean-blue irises.

Wanderer is assigned a Seeker (played by Diane Kruger), who will oversee the transition period and — because new souls can access their host’s memories — pump her for infor-mation about the location of other rebel humans.

But Melanie proves a stubborn host. Wanderer cannot completely subjugate her memories, thoughts, or will. Wanderer and Melanie co-exist in the same body, jockeying for control over it. This is the source of much unintentional hilarity as two worlds literally collide. The inner “dialogue” between Wanderer and Melanie is embarrassingly — almost painfully — silly at times. They sound like two teenage girls locked in a permanent, whiny, pointless argument.

To make matters worse, The Host moves at a snail’s pace for much of the first hour. The film is nice enough to look at. The aliens are nattily decked-out in white suits, and cities have never looked cleaner, shinier, or Architectural Digest-pretty.

Melanie resists Wanderer’s attempts to unveil the whereabouts of her brother or her boyfriend, Jared (played by Max Irons, Jeremy Irons’ son). Slowly, the old mind gains the upper hand and Melanie takes Wanderer on a walkabout through the New Mexico desert, searching for her outlaw Uncle Jeb (a Zen cowboy played by an almost unrecognisable Wil-liam Hurt).

Severely dehydrated, Melanie is found by her uncle and a group of renegade humans who, upon seeing her eyes, want to kill her (or “it” as they refer to her new alien presence). Jeb, sensing something is different about the hybrid host / alien, however, decides to keep her alive.

Welcome to Stephenie Meyer territory, where waif-like girls and high cheek-boned, pretty-boys swoon over each other.

Melanie is reunited with Jared who is immediately suspicious of her. To make matters more complicated, Wanderer starts to fall in love with another rebel, Ian (Jake Abel), who reciprocates her feelings despite hostility from his friends and his own brother.

Seeker doesn’t give up easily, however. There is something not quite alien about her passion for finding Wanderer. The aliens are a peaceable and mild-mannered species. But Seeker is driven and ruthless. Why?

There are few moments of humour in The Host. But one is when a group of rebels steals supplies from a grocery store, simply named “Store.” All the goods are packaged in the same yellow containers and labelled “potato chips,” “bread,” etc. There is no checkout. White-suited aliens simply smile as customers wheel their shopping carts to the parking lot without paying. What could be more civilised?

A note here about an apparent inconsistency: the film’s opening narration claims the aliens have cleaned up the environment and healed the planet. Yet, the aliens seem to have the same obsession with cars as humans. Indeed, the seekers all drive shiny silver Lotuses. I am sure they must get great gas mileage! Or perhaps run on steam?

The second half of the film steps up a gear or two and moves more like a snail on a bicycle. The pursuit by the aliens is not particularly tension-inducing. The rebels never seem to be in real danger of being caught. Instead the film’s second act deals with the differences and similarities between the aliens and the humans, particularly between Wanderer (now short-ened to “Wanda”) and Melanie.

It turns out that there are aliens who, in adapting to their human bodies, begin to enjoy the sensory pleasures that come with the territory (like kissing, for example). Some are also able to get chummy with the more strong-willed minds of their hosts.

This is exactly what aliens like Seeker don’t want to happen. Becoming friendly with hu-mans might lead to the end of the aliens’ control.

The Host is not particularly thought-provoking or thrilling. Yet, it does possess a quiet, restrained charm. That may be due more to the cast and direction than the story and script.

You wouldn’t know it from the way the film looks or sounds but many of the cast and crew are not American. Director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, S1m0ne, The Truman Show) is a New Zealander, Ronan is Irish, Irons is English, Kruger is German and Emily Browning is Aus-tralian.

The script is, by turns, strident, maudlin and occasionally just over-the-top (in places, it appears as if written by teenagers) and the action plods along without urgency. Yet the per-formances, particularly those by Ronan and Hurt, give the film enough emotional appeal to make it interesting and, in the end, satisfying.


What We ThinkAn Up Downtown Editorial

We were talking down Washington Street on a recent Saturday and ran into a new business owner. We got to talking and I asked what was her biggest challenge — a new business, downtown parking or something else. Without hesitation she said, “Not stepping in poop. Those street people have pooped on my back door three times and we are making front changes to our building so they can’t sleep here. When will you be writing about this?”

My reply is “now!” and all I can say is a loud three cheers for Mayor Ballard. And from what Up Downtown has heard, read and seen a big boo to the American Civil Liberties Union Indiana chapter.

Why? Because this newspaper agrees with the mayor and this and many other busi-ness owners and residents: it’s not only time to get tough on street people, panhan-dlers, cup shakers and beggars downtown, but it’s time to be honest about those out there: many of the folks on street corners are not homeless at all — they are frauds.

We have all read of the issue and it comes up every time surveys are taken of the worst problems facing our downtown — street people. Call them homeless, cup-shakers, beg-gars, bums or any number of mostly derogatory names, but it all ends up as the same thing: someone often found sitting on a street corner (frequently on a clearly stolen milk crate) with some type of homemade sign, a cup with a few coins or a musical instrument to make noise and a look of either disgust or resignation. If you frequent downtown, visit or live here (as we have 22+ years) you have seen these folks often sleeping on piles of broken-down boxes taken from dumpsters and urinating, throwing up or pooping in building entrances or alleyways.

But there’s a deeper issue which we’d not really considered until the mayor said it in his state of the city speech and another downtown merchant pointed it out to us recently: How to tell the “real” homeless people from the “fakes” whom the mayor says are running “a racket.”

When they brought the issue up I will confess it was one I’d not seriously ever consid-ered but it put into sharp focus something I, and I’d bet many readers, have noticed: That some of these supposedly down-and-out folks are not homeless at all. Their wal-lets contain more cash than yours or mine. They actually are “assigned” corners and “work for” someone who tells them what to do and where to go. Many have been seen being dropped off by a nice car with their stolen crates, cups and signs. One person even chased us down Meridian Street last year and yelled that we were a thief after we cleaned out one of our Up Downtown racks and removed a whole “kit” — a milk crate, cup, sign and blanket to sit on — from the space where our papers are supposed to be.

The issue here is larger and that’s the point our merchant friends and the mayor’s pro-posal made: How can one tell if a person sitting splayed on the sidewalk is homeless or a fake and what can we do to get the fakers off the streets and true homeless help they need to overcome their addictions and find them decent places to live so they will not need to be on the corners; all while cleaning up what has become a serious, obnoxious health issue downtown?

My police friends who patrol downtown beats say they do know homeless from fakers and I trust they really do. They know the guy with the “hungry, hungry hippo” sign and the one with a dog and the woman who says over and over “can you buy me some food?” My merchant friend said he was unaware this fake/real divide existed until recently when he spotted someone he thought was homeless with their wallet open buying cigarettes and saw a huge wad of $20 bills. He watched later as the person was picked up at the end of his “shift” and whisked away in a late-model car.

Still later he turned his attention to one of the guys who sleeps near his business. He noticed that guy was there at 5 a.m. and, along with a friend, sleeps in the same spot every night. He’s seen the guy over and over and spoke with him only to find he was genuinely without a place to lay his head and was indeed in need. It all made him think harder about the issue of “How can I tell? How do I know who needs genuine help and how do I know who is faking it?”

Then we have the civil libertarians. This writer is not only a journalist and business owner, but also Jewish and gay, so I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment — the right to speak and write — but while the ACLU Indiana (which has bailed out our firm several times when controversial writing made some try to ban us from the streets) has an obligation to protect free speech, I do not see peeing on my downtown back door, pooping in my neighbour’s entryway, cluttering my city-assigned vending spaces with soiled clothing and sleeping on private property anywhere in the Constitu-tion. I see it (as do the mayor and my fellow business owners downtown) as an illegal,

unsafe and worsening nuisance. Editorials often offer solutions to problems, but if you have read this far and expect a miracle answer from me, I am afraid you will be disap-pointed because I do not have one. I agree with the mayor that a majority of the beg-gars are clearly frauds and two of them, for example, who ONLY sit on the sidewalk a bit north and a bit south of the entrances to a couple of popular weekend restaurants on Saturday and Sunday mornings for a few hours are clearly running what he called “a racket”. One yelled at me when I took one of the signs he always posts down off a pole and put it in a trashcan. Another day I saw him throw his stolen milk crate over a planter into the plaza at Capitol Centre when he got off his “shift.” Last we looked littering and stealing (unless his name is “Dean’s Milk”) are hardly First Amendment protected free speech!

But why should we care? Because we owe it to our fellow men and women to provide help in any way we can. Those who really need it deserve outreach, a warm bed on a cold or wet night and a decent place to call home. As my mother always taught: “There but for the grace of God go I.” But there’s another reason to care: These folks — the real and the frauds — are giving our downtown a poor image and are serving no one by sitting on sidewalks, playing saxophones, tubas, beating tubs like drums or begging. It’s been mentioned as one of downtown’s biggest issues by locals and visitors alike, and we at Up Downtown feel it’s time the problem got dealt with honestly, fairly and strongly which is why we support Mayor Ballard on this one.

That means council making it illegal to use any noisemaker in the act of begging. It means enforcing and tightening laws in cooperation with Indianapolis Downtown, Inc., the police who have the beats and are in the know and the courts to place folks needing same in care and the frauds in custody if they sit on any corner (including several who have portable chairs), block pedestrians or loiter. It also means (despite the cries of the ACLU) to get these people off the streets for while asking for cash or jiggling a cup may be free protected speech, pissing on MY doorway is not.

Cracking down on habitual offenders, plus closing down the “camps” they have permanently established on Pine Street on the east end of downtown or off South Pennsylvania Street are vital for our city. If you have not spotted their tents, tarps and the permanency of these camps then you have not been looking — but we (and many visitors) have, including at Christmas when one even had a community Christmas tree.

For these unzoned, trespassing hovels with no sanitation, facilities, proper housing or permits to exist is not First Amendment free speech — it is a crime. And for the city to do nothing has been an even worse offence.

Those who live at these illegal camps and fan out downtown need to be dealt with justly, legally and swiftly — something with which I’m sure the ACLU will agree. Those who genuinely have issues need to be given food, beds, meds and counselling without guilt. Their rights need protecting, but at the same time they need to be reintegrated into society as truly there but for the grace of God go any of us.

But at the same time the racketeers, frauds, thieves and illegal camps need to go. These folks are trespassing on property they do not own. They are presenting a health hazard by doing their “business” on streets, in alleyways or entrances. And they are driving away downtown business, convention visitors and making the centre city a less-desirable place in which to live — rights to which the majority are entitled.

The mayor is right to demand action now. And we hope the Democrats on council, including those Up Downtown supported for election, will understand that it’s not just the cup shakers and corner-sitters who have rights, but downtown residents, property owners and businesses. It’s way past time OUR rights got protected...or have you never opened your door to and walked out into a pile of someone’s bodily waste as we have?


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Jill’s SwillBy Jill A. Ditmire / Mass Ave Wine Shoppe

Spring has sprung and there is no better way to taste it than at a wine dinner. Many times wine dinners have their priorities backwards and are more focused on the food than the wine. That’s not the case at the one we are holding 20th May. Here, the wines are selected first then courses that flatter, feature or contrast the wines are chosen. I feel that the result is a feast for anyone who loves BOTH wine and food.

And our menu includes the wines, so visitors will pay one price to sample six deli-cious wines and six tasty courses. The wine alone is reason enough to attend as our menu features grape varietals I am sure many have never sampled.

The Gruner Veltliner is a refreshing white wine grape from Austria with notes of citrus.

The Riesling / Torrontes blend will awaken your tastebuds and may become your “go to” wine for patio drinking.

The Chateau de Campuget Rose is elegant, dry (very dry!), pink wine.

The California Pinot Noir is rustic and ripe.

The malbec is full bodied and spicy.

And the Sparkling prosecco rose parallels the creamy zabaglione and the fresh, sweet fruits served with it.

Seats are limited and R.S.V.P. deadline is 16th May at 317/972.7966 Our “Natural-ly Gluten Free” Wine Dinner will be Monday 20th May from 6.30p.m. at Mass Ave Wine Shoppe Cafe & Spirits 878 Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapo-lis. Cost is $60 plus tax per person.

Mass Ave Wine Shoppe, Café & SpiritsWine Dinner

“Naturally Gluten Free”May 20, 2013 @ 6:30 PM

First CourseCrab and Corn Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

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Second CourseSriracha and Honey-Glazed Chicken

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Amalaya Riesling/Torrontes Blend

Third Course Roasted Cauliflower with Red Pepper Hummus

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Château de Campuget Rose

Fourth CourseZucchini and Summer Squash-Wrapped Salmon

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Space is limited, so reserve by Thursday May 16th!

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Hackin’ The NetBy Ted Fleischaker / Up Down Town Publisher

It chokes me up to even discuss throttling, but as our use of devices like iPhones, iPads and Droids to surf, find directions, watch TV, movies and more on-the-go increase, so does the likelihood that more and more of us will be subjected to what the phone and internet service providers politely call “a traffic management policy”.

Never heard of it? Well chances are if you haven’t, you will. And if you have experienced it already likely it’s had you cussing, griping and finding that somewhere (usually buried in the “small print” of your phone or other contract) the provider is given the right to “man-age traffic” by doing pretty much whatever it takes to keep “heavy users” from overburden-ing their systems.

This all raises several issues, but ones which we users need to keep in mind. One is what we pay for our wireless “package” and what it gives us. Newer at&t iPhone contracts, for example, are pretty much pay-as-you-go with a set charge for a certain monthly download and then an extra per gigabyte once you pass your prepaid limit. Of course, you do not get to carry over extra data if you go under so it’s use too much and they charge you and they win. Use too little and you prepaid so you get nothing refunded and they win. Must be nice to be win-win which is what this is about as these are big companies all wanting to turn a profit.

The issue is even more confusing if you have an older at&t package — one which was sold as “unlimited.” Well, it WAS unlimited when they introduced the iPhone and then other “smart phones” but as usage went up — and in many cities, Chicago, San Francisco and New York’s Manhattan the most glaring examples — killed their system by overtaxing it, they decided enforce a line in that small print of contracts to throttle or slow speeds of what they termed “heavy users” until the start of their next billing period.

In at&t’s case, the arbitrary “cap” is 3 gigabytes of data. We will confess this is a large amount, but in our way of thinking when you buy “unlimited” it should be just that. So what has the carrier done to get around the way we and others think? Check what they say on their own website:

“Reducing data speed (data throughput) is a common practice in the wireless industry in response to soaring data usage and limited wireless availability. More than 95 percent of our smartphone customers are not impacted by this practice.

You can still use an unlimited amount of data each month. That won’t change. Only your data throughput speed will change if you use 3GB or more in one billing cycle on a 3G or 4G smartphone, or 5GB or more in one billing cycle on a 4G LTE smartphone. Even with reduced speed, you can still have a good experience surfing the Web and doing e-mail - but you’ll see the biggest difference in the quality of streaming video.”

So what does that mean? Well to our partner who used too much data while awaiting me at a doctor’s office and elsewhere last month while off WiFi it means he’s holding a virtu-ally useless phone until our next billing cycle begins. Why? Because our usual speed (about 1-2 Megs download) has been slowed to 15-20 percent of that as he over-stayed his at&t welcome.

And before someone asks if we are singling out at&t, we’re not. This throttling issue is international and applies in some way, shape or form to almost every carrier as they all struggle to meet demand for data now that they have convinced all of us to switch to smart phones.

While at&t has the biggest batch of gripes about this issue here in the States, in the UK a major controversy has erupted about “unlimited” plans sold by Virgin Media. That contro-versy is so rabid that the British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has been drawn in to define what Virgin is doing and whether what they term as a “moderate” slow-down is fair or even qualifies as “moderate” in their ads promoting the service.

Think Broadband ( www.thinkbroadband.com ), the UK’s news source for online matters, has even weighed in and notes in a recent post, “Our latest poll attracted over 1,300 re-sponses and shows the very different views which users, service providers and the Adver-tising Standards Authority may have on what ‘moderate throttling’ of heavy users should mean. In a judgement upheld last week by the ASA against Virgin Media, it ruled that a 50% reduction in download speed was not moderate, with the response from Virgin Media to reduce the throttle from 50% to 40%.”

We can only wonder what they’d think of what appears to us to be a 90% reduction we’ve been seeing on his phone since partner Ivan went over.

So what can you do to prevent going over your plan? Take advantage of their notification

What throttling looks like: “Normal speed” left, “throttled” on the right.

services and watch out for texts telling you when you get sorta close, very close and to your limits — either those you have paid for or their arbitrary caps on “unlimited plans.”

In the case of at&t, go to your keyboard and punch in the star key, followed by the word “DATA” and then the hash or number key. You’ll get a free text telling where you stand, as seen at right.

Of course that begs the question of what IS 3 gigs or any other amount? It’s a lot of data, but if you stream videos (think Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.) then it can happen fast — way faster than if you only play an occasional game, read or send e-mails and check stocks and weather.

At&t’s new plans sell 2 gigs as a base so CNN Money checked to see what one can get for that. This is what they had to say: “So how much is 2 GB? At&t says 2 GB is the equivalent of 10,000 e-mails without attachments, 1,500 e-mails with attachments, 4,000 Web pages, posting 500 photos to social media sites and 200 minutes of streaming video combined.”

So what to do? First remember that anytime you can, if you have it switched on, you can use WiFi on your device and not incur a data plan charge at all. On iPhones that on/off toggle is under settings in the first screen. The phone will even remember WiFis you have been on before and automatically go to them if you have the toggle on. That means at home or the coffee shop, restaurant or even public WiFi. Just look in the upper left corner for the WiFi symbol and you’ll know you are not using your data plan.

But what about readers without “unlimited” data. You also have a cap but yours is mon-etary. When we added Anthony’s iPhone to our family plan he did not qualify for the now no longer sold unlimited so we were stuck with a 2 Gig plan. Get near that cap and he gets reminders. Go over and he gets charged $10 per extra gig.

Confused yet? Smart phone users on T-Mobile (the U.S. branch of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom) are being lured with yet a different rate plan than those of Verizon, Sprint or at&t. T-Mobile doesn’t “subsidise” the cost of your phone but instead offers what they say is high speed data and clear voice with less confusion.

Their website boasts: “Our Simple Choice Plan is unlimited, so no more overages. Apolo-gies to our competitors’ customers. We have unlimited talk, text and web. No more annual service contracts. No asterisks attached. And no more worrying about using too much data or getting hit with overages while on our network.”

What’s not said is that instead of “selling” you a phone as the others do and binding you to a contract, with T-Mobile you will pay a monthly fee ($20 for the iPhone 5) for your phone and then you’ll pay on top for the data and voice package. Think the batteries in a kid’s holiday toy which are always “sold separately”.

Still more confusion? Indeed, but what it all boils down to is we consumers have to ask tough questions, research thoroughly and not be scared to confront those offering various options with concerns before we sign. Always get your “deal” in writing and read the small print. It also is important to be certain you know before you shop:

1.) What you will be using your device for. If just phone calls or texts maybe you do not need a smart phone or data package.

2.) Who will use the plan. If you have a big family (most “family plans” allow up to six) can you get by with whatever data the kids or other heavy users leave?

3.) What devices will share that bucket of minutes and data? Most folks these days end their months with a lot of leftover talk minutes as so few of us converse anymore, but we end up with a dearth of data or an overcharge as we seem to use phones and tablets for everything from movie watching to radio listening or direction finding.

4.) What your budget is. Set a budget and stick with it, regardless of tempting bells & whistles.

Confusing? Definitely. But you’ve been warned. To avoid throttling or overpaying do your homework, be aware of all the traps companies have laid for you and most importantly be cautious to avoid unpleasant surprises — either in speed or in your bank account.


Other Points of Interest:1.) Drugstore / Chemist : CVS (2 locations)2.) BARcelona Tapas3.) 110 East Washington Street Condos / Adobo Grill4.) 501 On Madison Apartment Flats5.) 1 North Penn / Pita Pit6.) Punch Burger7.) JW Marriott Hotel8.) Cosmopolitan On The Canal9.) Carson Pirie Scott & Co.10.) Hoosier Park Winner’s Circle 11.) Stars Cafe, Icons Salon & Runners Forum12.) English Ivy's13.) Greek’s Pizza14.) Federal Express15.) Mass Ave. Toys & Arts A Poppin’16.) All Star Tire & Auto17.) O'Malia Food Market & Fusek's Hardware18.) Downtown Olly’s19.) TJ Maxx & The Block Apartments20.) Day Nursery State Gov't & Federal Centres21.) Silver In The City

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