Comments on Advance Indiana™: Good News: Indy Chamber Membership Drops Nearly 20%

Commerce is a free market concept- what commerce? ...

2014-07-05T18:14:19.200-05:00

Commerce is a free market concept- what commerce? It's more like the Chamber Of Reimburse.

Anon 8:43 AM GMT-5, Well said!

2014-07-05T13:47:05.342-05:00

Anon 8:43 AM GMT-5,

Well said!

Anon. 8:26 said, "Did you know that they have...

2014-07-05T09:13:08.098-05:00

Anon. 8:26 said, "Did you know that they have actual governing functions assigned to them by the City?"

That was my point about the merger with Develop Indy, the city's economic development arm. It's no longer an independent business organization; rather, it's tax-supported agency. It can never buck the mayor's agenda without the risk of losing its taxpayer funding.

It is no different around the state. Local chamber...

2014-07-05T08:56:29.297-05:00

It is no different around the state. Local chambers of commerce are nothing but enablers of the worst crony "capitalism" around. It is especially onerous because it is local people hosing their own neighbors.

Any business owner who makes an honest living that is still a member of their local chamber is just not paying attention and is giving money to the very folks working against them. That is the definition of foolish.

The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce doesn’t repre...

2014-07-05T08:43:34.589-05:00

The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce doesn’t represent the interests of me or my business. I don’t support expensive mass transit proposals and definitely not ones that envisage rail. I no longer believe in or support TIF districts. I think the sale of the water company and the quadrupling of my water/sewer bills was practically a criminal enterprise, and I don’t feel much differently about the parking meters. And I decided long ago that I would cut the Pacers loose and donate the field house to Indiana University. I think the “Chamber” uses its new members to fund its political shenanigans without providing much in return. And they fail to support issues which matter to me, which include decreasing the regulations and fees imposed by the city on business; particularly overreaching into property rights with excessive regulation. These types of regulations typically exempt players at the top while charging fees to businesses at the bottom. Burdening thousands of mom and pop rental property owners while exempting all the big players. Uneven treatment of property owners is going to land the city in Court, and if they start burdening the thousands of middle class black landlords with fees and repairs and regulations that don’t apply to the Metropolitan Board of Realtor members, its going to land the city in Federal Court. These are the types of inequalities that the Chamber fosters through its policies and politics. It doesn’t stand for small business, no. Definitely not. And real business in Indiana has always been small business. These guys running downtown Indianapolis are the enemy of small business. They enrich themselves with their politics. And then they go home at night to Carmel and Zionsville and Center Grove. They don’t live here. But they tax us, regulate us, burden us with fees, and they use the money for business enterprise that enriches them. Period.

The Indy Chamber exists to suck money from every a...

2014-07-05T08:26:02.480-05:00

The Indy Chamber exists to suck money from every area of the City to enrich Downtown. If you're not in Downtown, and your in the Chamber, you're a sucker.

The next shakedown racket that needs to get exposed is Indianapolis Downtown Inc. Did you know that they have actual governing functions assigned to them by the City?