Ranking Indy's mid sized satellite cities: Terre Haute, Lafayette, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie, Anderson, Richmond (Indianapolis: credit, employment)

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Which of Indianapolis's satellite cities do you think is the best. (Please note I intentionally left out Bloomington because it is the golden child of Indiana cities. I also left out Fishers, Carmel and Noblesville since they are all suburbs and not "real" cities.)

Vote for top 2 cities
Terre Haute
Lafayette
Kokomo
Marion
Muncie
Anderson
Richmond

Base your picks based on following criteria:

Economy
Things to do
Population growth
History
Diversity
Scenery
Education
Weather
Sports
Cost of living
Quality of life
Infrastructure
Brightest future
Cleanliness
Least amount of blight

[Northwest Indiana]

I voted for Lafayette but then I realized that while I like Bloomington better, Lafayette could have been left out too as some folks may feel it is their "golden child" as well lol. Maybe cities without major colleges/universities should be excluded OR maybe the only options??? Those areas will always have benefits over cities without colleges/universities and the amenities that come with it.

If I could change my vote, I would say maybe Kokomo primarily because it is more of a true "Satellite City" (I don't think Terre Haute or Richmond would qualify as such as they are way too far and satellite cities are usually JUST outside of suburbs/exurbs) and with the upgrading of US-31, it puts Kokomo in a more comfortable commutable position to Carmel (which although a suburb is a major employment center in and of itself and only 30-36 miles away). Kokomo has also seen growth too.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

Kokomo has really bounced back from the Recession and has a bright future
Lafayette is great too. Purdue doesn't dominate the city to the level IU does with Bloomington
Anderson would be a good future pick. Its starting to turn around, the Downtown area is getting some investment, and Indianapolis is going to grow into it

Indianapolis won't "grow" to Anderson, it will die and sprawl out to it. That wouldn't be good.

[Toxic Toast]

Lafayette is a pretty obvious number 2 behind Bloomington.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

Lafayette is a pretty obvious number 2 behind Bloomington.

Not necessarily because Purdue is not in Lafayette. Purdue is in West Lafayette. They are two separate cities. So you can't give Lafayette credit for things that are due to Purdue. Things like diversity and sports because West Lafayette has the real diversity and the best sports, both due to Purdue. Lafayette is not very diverse and its not too well known for being a powerhouse in basketball and football.

[rrah]

So you leave out a city because you don't like it based on a visit years ago?

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Not necessarily because Purdue is not in Lafayette. Purdue is in West Lafayette. They are two separate cities. So you can't give Lafayette credit for things that are due to Purdue. Things like diversity and sports because West Lafayette has the real diversity and the best sports, both due to Purdue. Lafayette is not very diverse and its not too well known for being a powerhouse in basketball and football.

Lafayette has a nice downtown that has stuff going on, a zoo, and benefits from Purdue despite not actually having Purdue within its boundaries. You can't completely separate that stuff out. If people are in downtown Lafayette on a Saturday night, but came to town because of a Purdue football game, you can't say "well they came for Purdue so the fact that afterward they went to Lafayette doesn't count for Lafayette." You also can't say, "yeah, you live in Lafayette but you work at Purdue so you are not helping Lafayette's economy."

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by rrah

So you leave out a city because you don't like it based on a visit years ago?

No I didn't leave out Bloomington because I "don't like it". I left it out because, like I said, Bloomington is the golden child of Indiana cities and it would have won by a wide margin, which would not have been fair to the other cities.

Just for the record, I never said I "don't like" Bloomington. All I said is I thought it was crowded, congested, over rated and over hyped.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

Lafayette has a nice downtown that has stuff going on, a zoo, and benefits from Purdue despite not actually having Purdue within its boundaries. You can't completely separate that stuff out. If people are in downtown Lafayette on a Saturday night, but came to town because of a Purdue football game, you can't say "well they came for Purdue so the fact that afterward they went to Lafayette doesn't count for Lafayette." You also can't say, "yeah, you live in Lafayette but you work at Purdue so you are not helping Lafayette's economy."

I voted for Lafayette. I look for Lafayette to go over 100,000 or be right at it by the year 2040. I'd almost bet at some point in the no too distant future, Lafayette will pass Ft Wayne in population.

Bloomington would be in the same category as West Lafayette. A true college town. It would be too easy to win in a poll against a town like Marion. Whereas Marion can very easily compete with Lafayette and any of those other cities.

[Humboldt1]

Ivory Lee Spurlock,

You do realize that Ft Wayne has 260k people and Lafayette has 67k people?

Lafayette is very dependent on Purdue though not as much as Bloomington is dependent on IU