A lifetime of experience in blending art with architecture enables Jim Lang to work with owners in a practical yet elegant combination that yields optimal designs in the transformation of real estate. Mr. Lang lends his expertise for both living and working spaces with a flare that enables his clients to enjoy the panache’ of Park Avenue with a favorable Main Street budget? Your perfect space dreams can begin with a single conversation.
Jim Lang has lead the design efforts and directed the construction on projects that range from classic façades for new and interesting eateries through multiple unit downtown residential loft living spaces.
Some examples where Lang’s artistry has made dramatic design contributions that have translated into unique transformations to commercial entities include the Mayfair of London style façade of downtown Evansville’s Eclipse tapas restaurant to the full resurrection of a European Gothic church in Indianapolis into 7 luxury townhomes that sold for from $500,000 to $900,000.
Jim has particular interests and talent in identifying what beauty is obscured in historically significant properties and bringing it back to life in a way that honors the history while integrating modern amenities into the functionality of each opportunity as it is touched by his vision.
Residential Real Estate and the opportunities for increasing the enjoyment of the owners through strategic elegance has been a passion of Jim’s since he was a child. Through his entire career that spans three decades in Indiana Mr. Lang has pushed new limits with design that has enabled both individual and builder clients to make higher than market profits by offering classic elegance that can be achieved on a reasonable budget.
Mr. Lang serves as a design and implementation from small jobs like indoor and outdoor kitchens all the way through full blown residential complexes for sale to upwardly mobile professionals. Time after time his magic touch is just what a project needs to fill those empty gaps that always seem to cause the most last minute problems.
Many volunteer projects in Indianapolis and Evansville have benefitted greatly from Jim’s generosity and humble brilliance.
On a College Scale the City of Evansville Gets a 1.4 on a 4.0 Scale for this Semester: CVB, KEB, and the people of Evansville bail out the Government who would have scored a 0.57 on its own merit
The City County Observer kicked off 2011 with a reader’s choice of what the most important things that the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County need to get right in 2011. Well we are now halfway through the year and some progress is being made, some things are done, and others are terribly lacking. Here is our assessment of the Mid-Term Grades for the most important issues.
THE TOP TEN and THE GRADES
B: The 2011 City Elections: There were some spirited primaries and some unopposed seats. What we opined would constitute getting it right is for no more partisan voting block control of the City Council and a split party make-up of independent thinkers. After the primaries we actually have the potential for exactly what we hoped for. This grade would be an A if all of the City Council seats were contested. The contest for Mayor likewise appears to be between two capable good people both of which want what is right for Evansville.
F: An Evansville for the next Decade Plan: Nothing has been done and not one our elected officials or candidates for office has mentioned such a plan.
B+ : Civic Beautification: We can thank Ann Ennis of Keep Evansville Beautiful for a great new fountain at Garvin Park and a northern Gateway beautification plan. There have also been several quite visible efforts by candidates for office and particularly Lloyd Winnecke for mobilizing private litter removal programs. NOTE: The City of Evansville’s Parks Department gets a big fat F for the year thus far for utter incompetence for 5 of the six months including not even keeping a log of complaints. There is hope for a D for the year as there have actually been some efforts started to do cleanups.
A+: The Hiring of a new Executive Director for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau: Mission accomplished CVB Board and the plus is for doing the right thing with respect to the rotten circumstances surrounding the departure of Marilee Fowler.
D: CSO Plan for EPA: The total of the disclosed accomplishment is the recent announcement that a judge had approved the consent decree. It is time for some real design work to be budgeted and done so we are not hit with fines again at the end of 2012.
D: The MLK Entertainment Complex: John Kish gets an A for his work in keeping the Arena on budget and on schedule. The City of Evansville and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission get a big fat F for the hotel fiasco. If there were anything lower than an F they would deserve that. Actually 2010 should have resulted in academic probation for that project and this year’s efforts deserve expulsion. There is nothing that could have possibly have been done worse.
D: Mental Health Services Improved: Coroner Annie Groves gets good marks for initiating an awareness campaign. The end result is still a D because the suicide rate is still among the highest if not the highest in the country. This grade would have been an F but Mrs. Grove’s hard work raised it.
D-: Pay Scales: Not a darn thing has been done to make the pay scales of the City of Evansville competitive. The generous D- is because at least Tom Barnett is now paid honestly by the place he works for.
F: Consolidated Government: Every opportunity to craft a plan that demonstrates real efficiency from consolidation has been punted to later. The current plan does not save a dime, offers no tangible benefit to anyone, and relies on trust the government to do things right after passing it. This is no way to run a County.
F: Smoking Ordinance Revisited: The Evansville City Council has not had the courage to bring this up in an election year even though it is now assured to pass if it is comprehensive. Next year it will pass which is why the first metric got a B.
For those of you who like to read the CCO on the go, we’d just like to remind you of our iphone-friendly mobile version of the site.
If the mobile version does not automatically switch, there is a “switch to mobile” link at the bottom of a page, and a new “Mobile” link in our main menu.
CCO Mobile:
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(EVANSVILLE, IN)- Area nonprofit groups will be given the opportunity to hold an event in the new Evansville Arena, without paying a rental fee, before the Arena officially opens to the public. Interested groups are being asked to fill out an application at http://www.evansvillearenaproject.com/content/application-nonprofit-event-new-evansville-arena. The application deadline is July 18th and final selections will be made by August 17th.
“We want to invite nonprofit groups to experience the arena in a way that they wouldn’t normally be able to do once the venue is open,†said Kathy Kleindorfer, Chairman of the Evansville Arena Project Committee. “This is our community’s arena and this is just one of the ways we will be introducing it to the public.â€
Reservation-type events of more than 50 people and less than 500 will be considered. Nonprofits will not be charged a rental fee, but they will be responsible for the cost of set up and tear down as well as providing chairs, tables, etc. Groups must also arrange for a caterer if food is being served.
Available dates will fall between mid-October and the first week in November as time and space will allow. Saturdays are not included.
This Fourth of July will mark my 10th year of service for the people of Indiana working in the Office of the Attorney General. But my career in service to the people of Indiana began much earlier, in 1982, working for then-Senator Dan Quayle in Washington and later in the Bush-Quayle White House as an assistant to the vice president. This experience in the legislative and executive branches at both the federal and state levels provides a unique perspective on the multi-faceted checks and balances that our founders devised. Our founders understood human nature and created this system of checks and balances because they knew that government is not to be trusted.
The resurgence of public interest in our Constitution is brought home to me regularly by people with pocket copies of our founding document, dog-eared and underlined. Almost daily I am asked fundamental questions on the limits of the federal government’s authority, the proper role of the state and the protection afforded individual rights and liberties enshrined within the Constitution. Never in my wildest imagination did I dream I would see such remarkable widespread interest in the fundamental principals of our democracy. For me, it’s a great time to be Indiana’s attorney general.
Distrust in government is a fundamental reason for the tensions designed within this system of government known as federalism. Although times have certainly changed since the founders wrote our Constitution, systemic checks within government remain necessary. One is that state and federal governments properly check one another’s authority. Our president and Indiana’s governor have both brought changes through the exercise of authority. Legal challenges to this authority should not be seen as against a particular policy or political, but as part of the healthy checks and balances of federalism.
Recent events provide several examples. I have joined my fellow state attorneys general in an appropriate and respectful legal challenge to test whether Congress has the authority in the federal health care act to require individuals to purchase private health insurance. The federal government has challenged in court Arizona’s immigration statute, and has argued against Indiana’s new statutes on Medicaid provider qualifications and immigration enforcement. I see litigation between the state and federal governments as part of the healthy tension that protects our system and the people, who are the true source of authority.
I’ve met with a number of my attorney general colleagues from other states who are similarly attuned to the public’s interest in our Constitution and the growing number of conflicts between the states and federal government. I argue that now is the time for states to take a greater role in serving to check the federal government’s exercise of its limited authority. This healthy check on authority is part of our role in federalism and helps protect our states and the people we represent. But it also protects Washington from itself. Congress has delegated great authority to regulatory bodies, which for too long have gone unchecked.
State governments need to play a more active role in asserting their broad state authority – and if the federal government disagrees, it can bring a legal challenge to check that use of state authority. After all, we in state government must act in the best interest of the true sovereigns, the people. Federalism, by definition, cannot be solely left up to those in Washington, DC.
So on this Fourth of July, celebrate federalism as part of what protects the freedom and liberties we enjoy.
Greg Zoeller is Indiana attorney general. Prior to his being elected attorney general in 2008, he had served in the agency since 2001 as chief deputy A.G.
Time 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Subject ANIMAL CONTROL Location 301 Recurrence Occurs the first Friday of every 1 month effective 7/1/2011 until 7/1/2011 from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM Reminder 15 minutes
SHARON EVANS @ 4982 Categories ROOM 301
Yesterday, one of our readers and a frequent commenter who goes by the handle of “Sadie Mae†posted the following comment in response to our article regarding the comprehensive smoking ban that takes effect today in Vanderburgh County but not in the City of Evansville.
“My only problem with the CCO is that it wants less government, but wants the government to stop smoking at business which pay taxes to the government! I don’t smoke, but it’s legal and the owner needs to decide. If you don’t want smoking, most everyplace in Evansville is smoke free. I’m just saying if you are against government in your life, then quit picking and choosing!â€
As the City County Observer freely acknowledges that we are predisposed to supporting minimization of the impact of government on our day to day lives, we do not support anarchy, we support good public policy. We particularly do not want to see society degenerate into a self serving jungle as the children in William Golding’s novel “Lord of the Flies†did. Government and laws have a place in society. That place with respect to law enforcement is to protect the individual rights of people from being trampled on by others.
Our so called “rights†were granted to us by the founders of the United States and are accepted to be defined by the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights. Contrary to popular belief, neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights mentions tobacco. The second amendment does guarantee the right of the people of the United States to keep and bear arms. We at the City County Observer support the Second Amendment.
Guns are not something that one “needs†to have to survive yet the founders of the country felt so strongly about the need of citizens to own them at their own discretion that the words “shall not be infringed†were included in the Second Amendment. Guns in the hands of responsible people can be used to feed a family, assemble a collection for pleasure, teach mechanical skills and proper maintenance procedures, and yes for protection when an irresponsible person or people infringe upon others rights. In the hands of a serial killer or a freeway shooter guns are a danger to society and are used to deprive people of their right to life randomly and indiscriminately. Guns only become a problem when they are used to oppress. As the old saying goes “guns do not kill people, people kill peopleâ€.
The same can be said of tobacco. Tobacco and alcohol have many things in common with guns. All three are legal, none of them can do any damage unless they are “loaded and firedâ€, and all three kill people when used irresponsibly. Humans have corrupted all three by abusive behavior. A freeway shooter that corrupts a gun by spraying bullets into a crowd of people is prosecuted even if no one is hit. A person who drives under the influence of alcohol endangering innocent bystanders is prosecuted even when there is no wreck. Until recently smokers have been allowed to endanger others indiscriminately without any consequence.
In recent history there have been between 8,000 and 10,000 gun related homicides per year in the United States. There are roughly 25,000 deaths per year to innocent bystanders due to people driving while intoxicated. Second hand smoke on the other hand is attributed to contributing to 53,000 deaths per year. The only variable is time. While a gun or a drunk kill or maim instantly, secondhand smoke can take years. The end result is the same, a valuable member of society gets a premature ride in a hearse.
Some dispute these statistics yet many accept them. We accept these numbers as an accurate and relative measurement of the second hand deaths caused by alcohol, tobacco, and guns. The scientific and forensic evidence of all of these statistics is compelling enough to accept.
So Sadie Mae, here is our answer to your comment. Second hand tobacco kills twice as many people per year as drunk drivers and five times as many people as are murdered with guns. We support a comprehensive smoking ban for the same reasons that we support keeping drunk drivers off of the road and the laws that prevent random shooting into crowds or murder. Alcohol, tobacco, and guns are legal and should continue to be. Your right to live without irresponsible use of these legal things endangering you is something that we also support. A comprehensive smoking ban is part of that protection.
Here is an old song about Alcohol, Tobacco, and Guns.
“Kunkel does NOT have the financing. If they did have it, why in the world wouldn’t they hold it up and say †give us the businessâ€. In fact, I believe that they are positioning themselves to be the ‘builder of last resort’. When Kunkel gets anointed, it will be part of a ‘Private/Public Partnership’; and the taxpayers will put up 70% of the money to Kunkel’s 30%. There should be a demand made tomorrow, on July 1, 2011, that Kunkel show proof of the existence of their approved financing (100% funded) for this deal.†Beerguy
“The only thing that Beerguy is missing is this will only happen with Kunkel at the helm if the City gives them 100% financing. Why would anyone be fighting to take this deal. The deal is dead. Any halfway sensible business would be asking the city for triple what this deal was for. The fact that they want such a deal when they can get millions more shows how inept this group is. Only scavengers take on deals that are dead. Let the bottom feeders start to circle.â€TheDonald
IN RESPONSE TO: Overpriced Public Housing
“We all may be shouting, “Enough!â€, in a Hurricane, but no matter what, we can not be silent. Keep on keeping on CCO,—the Wind is changing, and your “Voice†is being heard.†Crash Larue
“I have serious doubts that this is even going to accomplish what HOPE is trying to set out to do, which is revitalize these run-down neighborhoods. I know there will always be exceptions to the rule, but if a person doesn’t have a good chunk of capital invested into the house, more than likely they will not maintain it as well. I predict that the majority of these homes will be in disrepair within 10 years, and millions more of taxpayer dollars will have been flushed down the drain.†Todd
“Is it true that the listings expired on the other front door pride homes and they aren’t even on the market?â€Proudgrandpa
IN RESPONSE TO: Skyboxes and Loge Seats
“Never in the history of Evansville has there been a project so conceived in secretcy and so poorly planned. Every hint of progress is met with frustrations of failure and expense. From the no planning of the arena to the no opinion 25 member board to the hotel, to the parking garage, to the size of the arena and to the untold secrets that we may soon learn! All of this with the squandering of our 127 million. As a taxpayer in this City, I think it is time to look at the books a do an audit! I beliee the City prosecutor needs to step up a do his job!†OAKTREE
“Expect to find that Mr. Kish and/or VenueWorks are obtaining written arena skybox commitments from favored friends while acting as agents for the City. Expect to find this bundle of skybox agreements to be quicky approved by unanimous vote by the ERC after the ERC sneaks this in as a “new business†agenda item within the next month or so. Does any of this make you wonder what is going on with the arena naming rights?â€Joe Biden
IS IT TRUE…that the City County Observer strives for good public policy?…that one of our most preferred methods to strive for good public policy is through the use of questions?…that the CCO seeks to ask the questions and exposed the malfeasances that others for some reason are reluctant to ask?…that sometimes we already have the answers and use this method to release the truth to our community?…that sometimes operatives try to send us incorrect information to further their own agendas?…that we try very hard to screen incorrect information and for the most part are successful in doing so?…that sometimes something that is not quite perfect does sneak through but not very often?…that if we make a mistake we will always acknowledge it and do our best to correct it?…that E. Lon Walters, candidate for the Evansville City Council made the following post on his Facebook status yesterday?
No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.—Charles P. Steinmetz
IS IT TRUE that we agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Steinmetz and commend candidate Walters for posting that for all to see?…that it is the failure to ask the tough questions by the Evansville City Council, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission, and local mainstream media that has aided and abetted the insufficient processes of VETTING that has led to the present situation with the downtown Convention Hotel, the McCurdy, and a host of other ill-advised pieces of governance?…that Steinmetz is a particularly appropriate person to quote in the way that he was quoted because he is famous in electrical engineering circles for not only formulating the questions concerning the use of alternating current and hysteresis but also implement the solution to these problems?…that Evansville has needed people and entities to ask the tough questions of local government for a long time now?…that the courage of curiosity is finally beginning to set in with some citizens?…that with the next administration will come an opportunity for some citizens with solutions to step forward and be heard as well?
IS IT TRUE that the CCO has asked many questions regarding the insufficient VETTING process and the disparities between the COSTS and the MARKET VALUE of the new Downtown Convention Hotel?…that big glaring difference in what happened in Fort Wayne and in Evansville is that Fort Wayne has a hotel and Evansville is still holding a rabbit’s foot and crossing its fingers that a financial rabbit will be pulled out of a hat?…that the cost to build a hotel in Fort Wayne and in Evansville is substantially equal?…that the financial incentive package that the City of Fort Wayne offered to White Lodging had a value of between $25 Million and $32 Million depending on how things like parking places and sidewalks are valued?…that the financial incentive package offered by the City of Evansville to Woodruff Hospitality LLC was between $8M and $15M depending on how some of the extras like land and sky bridges are valued?…that Fort Wayne was willing to offer a richer deal by roughly $17 Million?…that this is a sufficient difference to make a package financeable in a way that the developer/operator of a downtown Convention Hotel can sustain a business?
IS IT TRUE that Fort Wayne has a hotel and Evansville has a broken pile of rocks?
IS IT TRUE that White Lodging that was the developer of the Fort Wayne hotel currently has 162 hotels under management 33 of which are in the State of Indiana?…that White Lodging has hotels in 19 states including every border state to Indiana?…that White Lodging is headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana?…that White Lodging submitted a bid to be the developer of the downtown Evansville Convention Hotel?…that the bid from White Lodging was asking for a financial package that closely resembled the agreement that they received in Fort Wayne?…that White Lodging has experience in building and operating hotels?…that there is a very high probability that if White Lodging had been chosen that today there would be a vibrant construction project going on where that pile of concrete, rebar, and guano that was the Executive Inn sits?…that the pile of rubble currently fowls the view of the MLK Entertainment Complex sits as a monument to the governance of the City of Evansville for failing to follow Dr. Steinmetz’s advice and ask the right questions at the right time?…that the time is now to ask even tougher questions lest the ruse will continue?
IS IT TRUE? June 30, 2011 Special Evening Edition: Another FOIA
IS IT TRUE that the banks are closed and that there has been no deal announced regarding closing the loan to consummate the development contract for a downtown Convention Hotel to be built to serve the new Arena and the Centre?…that we are now at square one holding the bag for a process that just did not deliver?…that we will be interested to see the real content of the forthcoming RFP to try to get something going again with the hotel project?…that we are concerned that the time allocated to respond will not bring spark the interest of any developer other than the rebirth of Woodruff Hospitality LLC or the group(s) that somehow could not find a way to work together from within Woodruff Hospitality LLC as it exists until midnight tonight?
IS IT TRUE that there is a trench being dug to connect the new Arena to the Civic Center so that the anticipated bandwidth needed to serve 11,000 cell phones, iPhones, iPads, etc. in the Arena are actually functional?…that John Kish did stand before the Evansville City Council and state that there was no cost to the taxpayers of Louisville to get their $2 Million oversight corrected and that there would not be any cost to the taxpayers of Evansville to establish bandwidth either?…that in the spirit of that statement we would like to know what budget from what company or department are paying to dig this trench and to establish the fiber connection to the server bank in the basement of the Civic Center?
IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer has once again been forced by stonewalling and complacency to file a Freedom of Information Act Request with the City of Evansville to get our hands on the real situation with respect to the premium seating in the Arena?…that the text of the latest FOIA is as follows?…that we expect to see whatever exists or does not exists within 21 days of today? Stay Tuned!!
June 30, 2011
Office of the Mayor of Evansville Indiana, the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development, and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission
RECORDS REQUEST
Dear Records Request Officer:
Pursuant to the state open records act, I request access to and copies of any contracts, agreements, and correspondence between VenuWorks/the Evansville Redevelopment Commission/City of Evansville pertaining to the sale, lease, or rental of all preferred seating, skyboxes, loge seats, or other seating other than general admission seating in the new Evansville Arena.
Furthermore according to the state open records act, I request copies of any contracts, agreements, and correspondence between VenuWorks and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission/City of Evansville pertaining to recommendations and/or approval of any items whatsoever that are delineated in Exhibit A of the Contract for Pre-Opening Consulting services or succeeding agreements between VenuWorks and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission/City of Evansville.
I agree to pay up to $50 to cover the cost of copying the document.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act.
Residential Real Estate and the opportunities for increasing the enjoyment of the owners through strategic elegance has been a passion of Jim’s since he was a child. Through his entire career that spans three decades in Indiana Mr. Lang has pushed new limits with design that has enabled both individual and builder clients to make higher than market profits by offering classic elegance that can be achieved on a reasonable budget.
