30% or more

Vacancy rates for second quarter of 2009:29% to 16%

15% to 6% 5% to 1% 0%

THE EMPTIEST AREAS IN INDIANAPOLIS:HOW THE VACANCY RATE HAS GROWN

MeridianSt.

Washington St.

65

70

1

2

3

45

6

78

9

11

10

1234567891011

8%9%6%19%12%6%5%10%6%7%8%

10%17%13%19%13%11%5%17%11%9%17%

12%25%19%27%23%10%15%23%14%13%20%

16%25%31%32%22%20%21%26%25%22%24%

32%35%38%32%31%36%42%41%40%32%31%

Tract 1970 1980 1990 2000 2009

Sources: U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Census Bureau

Note: Rates for 1970 to 2000 are from the U.S. Census Bureau and represent addresses vacant on April 1 of each year (the nextcensus will come out next year). The 2009 data is for April, May and June and came from the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development, which started measuring in 2005. They consider an address vacant if it hasn’treceived mail for 90 days.

Analysis by MARK NICHOLS; graphic by JENNIFER IMES /The Star

A small group of determined ManualHigh School students starts each day bystudying calculus in room 306. It maybe the most challenging course in a

school where failure is common, but some stu-dents — with the help of dedicated teachers —push themselves to excel.

The class is taught, as ithas been for years, by anidealistic veteran namedConnie Johnston. Theroom is dotted with stu-dents who have foundways to push themselvesand to grab help whereverthey can. Johnston calls it“the best class we have atManual.” She’s probablyright.

In a school where apathy often reigns, itdoesn’t dare walk into Johnston’s calculus class.In the first-period class, engaged students dili-gently work out math equations at the front ofthe room. They also encourage one another,working together to conquer complicated prob-

College basketball countdown: Purdue players look toward Final Four >> C1

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Matthew TullyCOMMENTARY

Manual’s tough math:490 Original size of Class of ’10151 Students still in school9 Who will have taken calculus

» See Tully, Page A17

LOW: 50 HIGH: 70 Plenty of sunshine forthe end of the weekend.Details, A22

Today’s weather Caption Gary Varvel'slatest editorial cartoonShare your caption for an un-employment benefits cartoonat IndyStar.com/varvel.

Get breaking news on your cell phoneText INDYNEWS to 44636(4INFO) for breaking-newsheadlines as they happen.

INDEX » Lottery A2 » Obituaries B4-6 » Editorials B8 » Scoreboard C15 » Movies IndySunday, 14-17 » Puzzles IndySunday, 35-36 » TV IndySunday, 23-34

» MANUAL PROJECT: This is the 12th in an occa-sional series of columns Matthew Tully is writing

about life at Manual High School. Follow Tully’s reportsthroughout the school year as he explores Manualthrough the eyes of teachers, administrators, studentsand parents at IndyStar.com/Manual.

Now getCouponson your cell phone!Text GROCERY to 22888

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009 ✭ “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” II COR. 3:17 ✭ $1.75 ✭ CITY EDITION

By David EspoAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — The Democrat-controlledHouse narrowly passed landmark health-carelegislation Saturday night to expand coverage totens of millions who lack it and place tough new

restrictions on the insur-ance industry. Republicanopposition was nearlyunanimous.

The 220-215 votecleared the way for theSenate to begin debate onthe issue that has come to

overshadow all others in Congress.A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the

legislation to the passage of Social Security in1935 and Medicare 30 years later.

“It provides coverage for 96 percent of Ameri-cans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or in-

By Jeff Swiatek and Mark Nicholsjeff.swiatek@indystar.com

Jan Williams sits on his frontporch in the 900 block ofNorth Concord Street andwaves at a real-life ghost

town.Nobody waves back.All but three of the houses across

the street are empty. Same for thetwo-story house next door and theone-story home south of that. Twelveof the 22 houses on Williams’ streetare boarded up.

“They need to tear up all that,” saidWilliams, a mechanic on disabilitywho’s lived on the block for years. “No-body in ’em.”

Williams’ neighborhood reflects agrowing housing vacancy problem inIndianapolis — one that has reacheda level never before seen here, ac-

cording to an Indianapolis Star analy-sis of the latest vacant housing datafrom the U.S. Postal Service.

About 9 percent of houses in Mari-on County are vacant. That’s about5,000 houses, most of them five min-utes from Downtown.

Unquestionably, it is a problem forthe folks who live in the 900 block ofNorth Concord and so many otherblocks across the city, where peoplemust deal with the blight, the sharpreduction in home values and the

eerie feeling of living among boarded-up homes.

The problem extends well beyondtheir own neighborhoods, to thepocketbooks of all Marion Countyresidents.

Abandoned homes mean unpaidproperty taxes. In Marion County,taxpayers pick up $73 million in un-paid bills, much of which is attrib-uted to long-gone homeowners. In

DESOLATION ROW1 BLOCK, 12 VACANT HOMES,A MOUNTING PROBLEM IN INDY

CHARLIE NYE / The Star

Citywide, 1 in 11houses is empty —and homeownersare paying the price

» See Vacant, Page A16

STAR WATCHINVESTIGATION

The Housemakes

history onhealth care

Overhaul passes with1 GOP vote; next up: Senate

» See Health, Page A10

+ DETAILS: Com-pare the House andSenate plans, and seewhen the changes inthe House bill wouldtake effect. A11

$206in savings

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Go to IndyStar.com at 11 a.m. today for alive chat with Phillip B. Wilson.

Kravitz: Will those who remainkeep the Colts alive? C1

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR » INDYSTAR.COM 2 N D SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009 » A17

lems.In a search for hope at

Manual, this is a goodplace to find it. Studentssuch as Susan Lynn, whoplans to go to Purdue andhopes to work at NASA oneday, understand that a goodeducation is crucial to theirfuture.

“You’re not going towork for NASA with just ahigh school diploma,” Su-san told me.

“You’re not going towork anywhere good withjust a high school di-ploma,” classmate TriciaTharpe added.

It’s an inspiring class.But there is a problem, andit’s a big one. Few Manualstudents make it this far.This is the only calculusclass the school of about950 students offers, and it’smostly empty.

It’s in strong contrast tothe overcrowded second-pe-riod class that follows — theone for students who haverepeatedly flunked algebra.

At Manual, calculus isfor the few. Those fewmade it here by doublingup as sophomores — tak-ing both geometry and Al-gebra 2 that year.

“We’re stubborn,” JeffBledsoe, an 18-year-oldsenior, said when I askedwhy he and the others hadstuck with math.

“It just didn’t seem likethere was any other op-tion,” said his classmateChris Rhynearson. “Otherthan skate and just get by.”

“Yeah, we’ve hadenough friends who dothat,” Jeff added. “Well,they’re ex-friends.”

In a school where68 percent of the studentbody failed state standard-ized tests last year, you cancount on your fingers thenumber of students in thisyear’s senior class whomade it to calculus.

Altogether, including onestudent who took it as ajunior, only nine of nextyear’s graduates will havecalculus on their transcripts.

That’s nine out of490 students who arrivedat Manual as freshmen in2006. That’s nine out ofthe 151 who made it totheir senior year.

It’s another sign of thetroubles facing Indianapo-lis Public Schools and dis-tricts like it across thecountry. Too many stu-dents drop out. Too manyof those who do graduatefail to gain an educationthat prepares them to com-pete with students fromsuburban districts. Toomany good students strug-gle to learn in crowded,sometimes rowdy class-rooms. And too often, theexpectations are low.

Johnston and otherteachers say the school ison track to lose its onlycalculus class in two yearsbecause sophomores aren’tbeing pushed to take theclasses needed to get there.

The math programsuffers because teachersfeel tremendous pressureto pass students who per-form poorly, meaningmany students move onfrom lower-level classeswithout the skills to suc-ceed at the next level.

“We really curve ourgrades because if we don’tpass enough kids, we’rewritten up for it,” John-ston said. “We’re not al-lowed to hold students ac-countable for not doingthe work.”

Even in calculus, manystudents struggle. BeforeJohnston adjusted herfirst-quarter grades for thecurve, the highest mark in

the class was a C. Severalstudents say they havestruggled with math sincespending time in classeswith lackluster teachers inearlier years.

“I didn’t learn anythingin Algebra 2 my sopho-more year,” Susan Lynnsaid. “We were on ourown. So I understand thecalculus part, but I stillstruggle with the algebra.”

Every School Boardmember, IPS administratorand teachers union officialshould listen to Susan’swords. Too many goodteachers work within IPSto tolerate the bad ones.

Still, it isn’t a surprisethat this group of studentshas overcome classroomstruggles. Some have over-come obstacles in their per-sonal lives so serious thatthey put most people’s prob-lems in sharp perspective.

One student confided tome about a parent’s alco-holism; another told of be-ing separated from a par-ent by Child ProtectiveServices years ago. A third,Andrea Stanarevic, wasborn in Serbia and movedto Indianapolis as a third-grader. She didn’t speakEnglish when she arrived.But with a constant pushfrom her parents, some-thing that is often missingat Manual, she is challeng-ing Susan for the title ofvaledictorian.

Several students saidtheir dedication to schoolcomes from watching theirparents struggle finan-cially. They’ve grown usedto hearing Johnston offerinspiration with a favoritephrase — “the more mathyou take, the more moneyyou’ll make.”

The students have dif-ferent goals. But manyhave one thing in com-mon: They have been inother classes taught byJohnston and say that setthem on the path to calcu-lus. Chris received a help-ful push when Johnstonnoticed he was a hardworker as a freshman.

“This was Ms. J’s goalfor me from the begin-ning,” he said. “She keptsaying, ‘We’re going to getyou through, all the wayto calculus.’ That’s how Igot to where I am now.”

Another student told meabout spending his mid-dle-school years drinkingalcohol and smoking pot.When I asked why hestopped, he pointedtoward his teacher.

“Because of her,” hesaid. “She got me to stop.That woman right there iseverything. She gave methe support I never gotanywhere else. She toldme what I was doing waswrong. Every day. Fivedays a week. You get tothe point where you don’twant to hear it anymoreand you have to say, ‘I seeyour point.’ ”

Johnston smiled andlooked embarrassed everytime I asked her about herstudents’ praise. Time andagain she urged me to“write about the kids,”about their ability to per-severe in a school wheremany students give up. Mycolumn, she said, shouldbe about the students.

She’s right. But thatdoesn’t mean a greatteacher isn’t a big part ofthe story.

Johnston, 58, arrived atManual 19 years ago after

taking part in a volunteerschool mentoring pro-gram. She gave up a muchbetter-paying job writingcomputer software to be-come a teacher becauseshe loved being in theclassroom and workingwith students. She’s in-vested in the lives of herstudents ever since.

“Ms. Johnston, can youstay after school to helpme tonight?” Susan askedThursday morning.

“All right, we can staytonight,” Johnston said.

The answer wasn’t asurprise. She had done thesame thing the day beforeand many other days thisyear. After class, I askedher why she gave up herfree time.

She answered with aquestion.

“How can I say no?”✭ Reach Matthew Tully at (317)444-6033 or via e-mail atmatthew.tully@indystar.com.

Tully» Johnston: More math. . . more money.

From A1

DANESE KENON / The Star

LOOKING AHEAD: Seniors Tricia Tharpe (right) and Susan Lynn begin their day at ManualHigh School in Connie Johnston’s calculus class. They plan on going to college.

A LITTLE HELP: Calculus in-structor Connie Johnston as-sists Matt Powell duringclass at Manual, where shehas taught for 19 years.

By John AntczakAssociated Press

LOS ANGELES — A Seattle team has collected a$900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to de-velop the concept of an elevator to space — an ideaspurred by science fiction novels.

The team’s robotic machine raced up more than2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.

Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at therobot’s photovoltaic cells that converted the light intoelectricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one ofits climbs in about 3 minutes and 48 seconds.

The contest is intended to encourage development ofa theory that originated in the 1960s and was popu-larized by Arthur C. Clarke’s 1979 novel “The Fountainsof Paradise.”

Space elevators are envisioned as a way to reachspace without the risk and expense of rockets.

Instead, electrically powered vehicles would run upand down a cable anchored to a ground structure andextending thousands of miles up to a mass in geosyn-chronous orbit — the kind of orbit communications sat-ellites are placed in to stay over a fixed spot on theEarth.

LaserMotive LLC was presented the check by AndyPetro, program manager of NASA’s Centennial Chal-lenges, in a ceremony at Dryden Flight Research Facil-ity on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

The three-day contest required competitors’ vehi-cles to get to the top, with rewards possible for com-pleting climbs at two levels of speed. LaserMotivecould have claimed $2 million if its robot had climbedfaster.

The two other teams, KC Space Pirates of KansasCity, Mo., and the University of Saskatchewan’s SpaceDesign Team, finished out of the money. Neither oftheir machines made it to the top.

The fourth Space Elevator Games addressed a babystep in the engineering challenge of the concept, notthe larger debates of whether physics, materials tech-nology and economics would ever allow one to be built.

Thomas Nugent, one of the principals of LaserMo-tive, said the company believed the contest would dem-onstrate the concept of “power beaming” — transmit-ting energy by laser over long distances.

Nugent said there are numerous immediate applica-tions, such as providing power to remote areas of mili-tary bases or operating electrically powered unmannedaircraft for extended periods.

Group wins $900,000 forspace elevatorNASA science experiment aims

to find means of rocketless travel

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