The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 28

C2 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1998 ri ce 10 0 vantages found in the metropolitan area. By the magazine's reckoning, of the nation's biggest areas, the Norfolk, area represents the finest of the South; Minneapolis is the mightiest of the Midwest, and Seattle is the best of the West. Money changed the format for the 12th annual rankings, listing the top places by region and population size, instead of the straight 300-place catalog it used in the past. In compiling the list, Money gathered data on the country's 300 largest metropolitan areas, and ranked them according to how they scored on 37 "livability factors" -including clean water, low crime, clean air, good public schools and low property taxes. The cities were then ranked according to size: metropolitan areas of 1 million people or more: those with population of 250,000 to and population of 100,000 to 249,999.

In the East, using those ground rules, the top three metro areas were Washington, D.C.; Trenton, N.J.; and Manchester, N.H. In the South, the leaders in each category were Norfolk, Rich mond, and Charlottesville, Va. In the Midwest, the top areas were Minneapolis; Madison, and Rochester, Minn. The West's best were Seattle; BoulderLongmont, and Fort Collins, Colo. The rankings were posted Wednesday on Money's Web site and will appear in Monday's edition of the magazine.

Last year, Nashua, N.H., was No. 1 under the old ranking system; this year, it's the No. 3 small city in the East. Davenport, Iowa, was dead last year. This year, it's 23rd of 24 entrants on the Midwest medium-sized metro areas list.

Last year, Washington, D.C., ranked 162nd on the list of 300, down from 128th in 1996. In naming the District the No. 1 big city in the East, the magazine said it was "time for a reality check" about the nation's capital. The magazine noted that Washington's violent crime is higher than the national average, while public school spending per student is a bit lower. But the magazine placing D.C.

in a metro area stretching from Be-thesda, to Falls Church, Va. -said it has clean air, top medical care and lower property tax rates. By Peter Alan Harper ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK The District of Columbia metropolitan area has plenty of cultural heft, enough to rank it ahead of Boston and New York in Money magazine's best place to live In the eastern United States. Washington's top ranking may be a surprise to some people knowledgeable about the many problems in the nation's capital. But Money, In its annual ranking of the nation's 300 most livable areas, said Wednesday that museums were among the many ad Indiana's rankings In the East category Large (1 million plus) 8.

Indianapolis Medium 4. Fort Wayne 5. Gary 9. Evansville 10. South Bend Small 2.

Lafayette 5. Bloomington 14. Muncie 16. Terre Haute 17. Elkhart area rated East best pla live RAMADA Continued from Page 1 President Congress equal pay urges to pass measure FL, '23' -I If) it LiMO: I A rimJ Jill J.

"yh i I 1 fix Associated Press strikers demonstrate in front of General Motors' Flint (Mich.) had been on strike for five days Wednesday. GM isn't as efficient as other automakers, something it has been seeking to remedy for several years. They are still a high-cost producer," said David Healy, an Arizona-based analyst with Burnham Securities. Still, the costs could be high for GM it the walkout lasts long. Healy estimates the labor woes could cost GM up to $300 million per week once all North American plants are shuttered.

However, the walkouts and plant closings might not have a big effect on the overall U.S. economy. Diane Swonk, deputy chief economist at First Chicago NBD, said manufacturing production slows during summer months because of seasonal shutdowns. The economist said GM could boost production later during normally slack periods. "The timing is pretty good to recoup the losses," she said.

But she said GM competitors also may benefit from the situation. "Ford and Chrysler will go in there and grab market share." LINEUP: United Auto Workers Metal Center plant, where they STRIKE Continued from Page 1 off because of the Flint strike. Local 2209 is seeking volunteers to participate in a rally in Michigan next Tuesday in support of striking Flint workers. Also, Local 2209 scheduled June 17 as a day members could come to its union hall to apply for state unemployment benefits. "It's going to happen," Jackson said of Fort Wayne employees being laid off.

"We fully support the local (union) up there." CM, even though it has sold off some Indiana operations, still is a big player in Indiana's economy. It still runs several major state operations, employing more than 20,000 people. The Flint walkouts represent a renewal of labor tension between GM and the UAW. Between 1994 and 1997, the UAW conducted a series of strikes at critical GM plants. man said.

"What I saw from Lynn Martin's recommendations was not sufficient," Gorman said. "There was no real procedure for people to report incidents." Neither Martin nor her spokesman responded to requests for comment Wednesday. In addition, Mitsubishi might commit to companywide employee training, or donate money to support groups for harassment victims, said Chicago attorney James Shcin, adjunct professor of commercial law at Loyola University's law school. Guilt statement big issue A big test for the EEOC will be whether Mitsubishi admits guilt. total of about 85 rooms.

The fate of the building has long been a huge Downtown question mark. Ritchie a hotelier who owns Dollar Inns as well as the Ra-mada Inn on the Southslde purchased the building at auction in 1992 for only $250,000. In 1995, he announced an $8 million plan to renovate the building for office use and to construct a 640-space parking garage near the southwest corner of the intersection. That garage is now complete. No office tenants But efforts to line up a major office-space user for the building have been unsuccessful.

Peoples Bank Corp. of Indianapolis last winter negotiated to move its headquarters into the building, but backed off at the last minute. Real estate brokers said launching a hotel in part of the building gives Ritchie the flexibility to accommodate an office user, or to expand the hotel if none materializes. Observers were mixed on the merits of the site. Olympia Partners broker Bryan Chandler said it is a strong location, close to Monument Circle, Downtown office buildings and Circle Centre and accessible to the Indiana Convention Center.

However, hotelier Tim Dora, past chairman of the Indiana Hotel and Motel Association, said, "I wouldn't do that, because you are too far removed from the convention center." Downtown has been without a Ramada since the Ramada Plaza Hotel at 31 W. Ohio St. became the Radisson Hotel City Centre Indi- anapolis two years ago. The Fletcher Trust building, a granite-and-limestone structure, was built in 1914 and has been va-, cant since a Bank One branch moved out of the bottom three floors in early 1992. Bernard Vonnegut, grandfather of the famous writer Kurt Vonnegut was an architect of the building, which features extensive use of brass and marble, as well as a spectacular three-story lobby.

The lobby, originally designed as a bank headquarters, would adapt well Into a hotel lobby, historic preservation officials said. MITSUBISHI Continued from Page 1 pany failed to stop the abuse. The settlement will probably include substantial payments to the alleged victims, said H. Candace Gorman, a Chicago attorney specializing in harassment cases. Mitsubishi also is likely to adopt new policies and procedures that make it easier for its employees to report alleged harassment, she said.

The changes imposed in the settlement are likely to go well beyond those suggested by former Labor Secretary Lynn Martin, whom the Japanese automaker hired to review its workplace practices, Gor InfoLine numbers Up-to-the minute information from the financial world. 24-hours a day. Call InfoLine (317) 624-4636 and enter the 4-digit category number. Free local call. 1316 Compute-a-Loan 1300 Business Update 1301 Financial Markets Summary 1302 Stock Market Update 1303 NYSE Update 1304 AMEX Update 1305 NASDAQ Update 1306 Bond Market Update 1307 Key Metals Prices 1308 Commodities Update 1309 Money Rates 1310 Foreign Market Update 1313 Dollar Market Update 1314 Dow Jones Averages 1315 Major Business News Reports 7" i File Pnoto LOBBYING: "It is ludicrous to say 75 percent equality is enough," Clinton said.

low workers to choose between compensatory time off for working extra hours or collecting overtime pay-He said this would help women manage their careers and in that way address the problem of a gender wage gap. Labor unions and Clinton see this as eroding workers' bargaining power. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a principal sponsor of the bill Clinton is promoting, told the 35th anniversary ceremony her mother "slaved over her sewing machine" in a sweatshop in New Haven, earning much less than men there. "Assuring equal pay for equal work is not just a women's issue," she said.

"It is about improving the lives of our families." Sen. Ted Kennedy recalled his late brother's Interest in promoting equal rights. The economy is prospering today, as it was in 1963," Kennedy said. "By ending discrimination in the workplace and achieving fairness for women in the workplace, we not only strengthen our economy, we strengthen our country, too." we formulate monetary policy with the underlying goal of maintaining maximum sustainable growth in the United States, we are required to evaluate not only what's going on in this country, but what's going on elsewhere." Looking, at long-range threats to U.S. prosperity, Greenspan warried about uncertainty over the Year 2000 computer problem and said the growing U.S.

trade deficit was "a fundamentally unsustainable position." But he said it would be a mistake to use political pressure to clamp down on trade with countries, such as China, with which the United States has a large deficit. Market forces will work to reduce the deficit over time, and the low U.S. unemployment rate shows a trade deficit on its own does not destroy Jobs, he said. Fixing the Year 2000 problem -the fact that some computers mistake 2000 for 1900 will take $50 billion out of the U.S. economy, he said, and even then it's not clear that will solve It.

"We do not know what the impact will be even if the vast majority of problems are eliminated," he said. "Systems are very unforgiving. Software programs do not allow for a single mistake. You cannot be approximately correct. You're either right or you're wrong." By Robert Burns ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON On the 35th anniversary of President John F.

Kennedy's signing of the Equal Pay Act, President Clinton urged Congress to pass legislation to strengthen laws reducing disparities in men's and women's earning power. At a White House ceremony Wednesday attended by civil rights leader Dorothy Height, who was at Kennedy's signing ceremony on June 10, 1963, Clinton noted that American working women on average still earn only 75 percent of what men make for comparable work. "It is ludicrous to say 75 percent equality is enough," Clinton said. "You wouldn't tolerate getting to vote in three out of every four elections. You wouldn't like it if someone said you can only pick up three out of every four paychecks.

But that is, in effect, what we have said to the women of America." At the time Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, women were earning 58 percent of men's wages. Clinton urged passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would increase penalties for violations of the Equal Pay Act. It would allow women who currently can sue for payment of back wages also to be awarded compensatory and punitive damages. "It is tough, it is fair, and the Congress should pass it," Clinton said. Many Republicans and the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce oppose the bill. Randel Johnson, vice president of labor policy at the chamber, said Wednesday that wage disparities are due mainly to the interruption of many women's job careers to raise families. "Work experience does tend to translate to greater wages," Johnson said. Rep. Bill Goodling, R-Pa appealed to Clinton to support the Working Family Flexibility Act, a Republican proposal that would al- FED Continued from Page 1 ed the Fed's current monetary policy stance biased toward the possibility of raising interest rates but not Just yet.

Fed policy-makers probably will pass up the chance to raise rates at their June 30 to July 1 meeting, analysts said. The earliest Increase would come at their Aug. 18 meeting. "There is a bias toward restraint, but don't look for a tightening move imminently," said economist Robert Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.

"He is saying, 'I will do the right thing when inflation threatens, but It is not threatening right Economist Sung Won Sohn of Norwest Corp. in Minneapolis said Greenspan's testimony was designed in part to calm jittery international markets. Hinting too strongly of higher interest rates could have caused money to flow out of trouble markets and into U.S. securities offering a higher return. "The one thing he did not want to do was rock the boat and scare away foreign investors from Asia and Latin America," Sohn said.

Greenspan as much as acknowledged that. In response to a question, he told the committee, "When Business As production halted at such plants, the effects quickly led to layoffs at other factories. Examples include strikes at an Anderson lighting plant in 1994 and an Indianapolis metal-stamping plant in 1996 that caused GM to either shut plants or reduce vehicle production. However, GM and the union had enjoyed a truce for several months, at least until the Flint Metal Center workers began their strike last Friday morning. At Flint, GM has said the UAW hasn't fulfilled promises to ease restrictive work rules.

The union there says GM reneged on plans to Invest up to $300 million in the plant. No new issues David Cole, a University of Michigan auto researcher, said the overall issues aren't new. The UAW is trying to hold on to as many jobs as it can, while GM wants to become leaner. "Both sides are committed to what they have to do," Cole said. If the company settles without1 admitting or denying guilt, it could paint itself as a "victim" of heavy-handed government tactics, Shein said.

"If they're allowed to still deny it, that's going to affect public perception." Since the sexual harassment charges surfaced, Mitsubishi has adamantly denied that the problem was widespread. Soon after the charges were made public, the automaker paid for buses to bring nearly 3,000 workers to Chicago. Receiving their regular shift pay, they massed in front of the skyscraper housing the EEOC's offices in the West Loop to protest the harassment charges. Mitsubishi's strategy backfired when it was discovered that the put aside the distractions and burdens of litigation." Buying spree alarms firms Republic, a Florida-based conglomerate owned by billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, ran into opposition from Japan's largest automakers last year when It went on a dealership buying spree.

It reached a similar agreement with Toyota last year, but still faces litigation by Nissan. Steven R. Berrard, president of Republic, said the agreement "eliminates any uncertainty as to our commitment to American Honda." Republic owns one Acura and two Honda dealerships and has sales pending for 12 more, The automakers accused Republic of falling to abide by their franchise policies, which set strict limits on the number of dealerships that can be owned by one company and waiting periods between purchases. They worried Republic could gain Honda, mega-dealer Under the deal, Republic Industries may buy only a certain number of Honda, Accord franchises. company helped stage the rally, and some workers had been coerced into making the public display of support.

High-paid consultant A few weeks later, Mitsubishi hired Martin as a consultant, eventually agreeing to pay her $2.2 million. Last year, Mitsubishi settled a related civil case, agreeing to pay a reported $9.5 million to 27 alleged victims of harassment. In April, the company's Japanese parent, Mitsubishi Motor also said it was removing the executive who had been leadl" the automaker's fight against the EEOC, replacing him with Takashi So-nobe, effective June 25. settle suits too much control over their U.S. re-tall networks, allowing it to demand volume discounts or specific types of vehicles.

Honda even hired Los Angeles attorney Daniel Petrocelli, the plaintiffs' lawyer who won a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment against O.J. Simpson. But a federal lawsuit it filed against Republic in California was dismissed. Nissan suit pending Nissan Motor Corp. USA in January filed a complaint in Florida to block the sale of two dealerships there to Republic, but later dropped it.

It still has litigation pending in federal court in Los Angeles. Republic is by far the largest auto dealer group in the nation. It owns or is closing on the purchase of 297 dealerships In 17 states as it alms eventually to become a one-stop sales, service and rental supermarket under the AutoNation name. It has bought profitable, high-volume dealerships in top U.S. markets, while expanding its used-car superstore chain called AutoNation USA to 26 stores By Brian S.

Akre ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT The nation's largest automotive retailer, Republic Industries would be allowed to own Honda and Accord dealerships in a deal that ends a yearlong dispute. The agreement, announced Wednesday, resolves franchise litigation that American Honda Motor Co. Inc. had filed against Republic in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Details of the agreement were not released.

Officials said it sets the number of dealerships Republic may buy and various targets the new owner must meet in areas such as customer satisfaction and store appearance. Richard Colliver, vice president of American Honda, said the accord promotes fair competition among dealers and "allows the parties to The business desk is responsible for section. Call us between 9 a.m. and have suggestions or comments. Business Editor Pamela Klein Assistant Business Editor David J.

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