Does anyone think Indy is the best city in the midwest besides people who live in the city? (Indianapolis: job outlook, theater)

[Naptowner]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Yea, b.s.

Look. Indianapolis is the newest midwest city. It wasn't even in existence as it is today until the early 70's. Indy has some nice things, and comparing it to Chicago is bunk and the people that get defensive about Indianapolis need to get a grip.

Indianapolis is still finding it's identity. Right now, you mention Indy to people and they think of the 500, not a bad thing, but that is what Indy is known for. Who knows, maybe this fella from Seattle will get Indy out of it's defensive funk.

You have a point. The answer to the question is that no one but the most ardent, biased, resident actually believes Indianapolis is the "best city" in the midwest. By any objective standard, Chicago holds that title. You could just as easily insert Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, etc. in place of "Indy" in the thread title and the answer would be the same - none of these places really compare to Chicago.

As for whether it's the newest, I don't know about that - of course Indianapolis existed before the 1970s, and had a vibrant jazz scene back in the 40s and 50s. The only thing unigov changed was to redraw the city limits to capture the people who had moved outside of the city. No, Indianapolis wasn't very big back in the 1800s when river transportation was the way to go, but at some point doesn't this cease to make much difference?

Your point about the 500 may be accurate (although I think most people would associate Indy with the Colts nowadays), but what do people outside this area associate with Louisville? Baseball bats and a horse race. Milwaukee? beer. Cincinnati? chili and bad sports teams. Maybe these cities are "better" than Indianapolis, and maybe not but it's a little disingenuous to criticize us locals for getting defensive when the entire purpose of this thread is to criticize the city.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Naptowner

You have a point. The answer to the question is that no one but the most ardent, biased, resident actually believes Indianapolis is the "best city" in the midwest. By any objective standard, Chicago holds that title. You could just as easily insert Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, etc. in place of "Indy" in the thread title and the answer would be the same - none of these places really compare to Chicago.

As for whether it's the newest, I don't know about that - of course Indianapolis existed before the 1970s, and had a vibrant jazz scene back in the 40s and 50s. The only thing unigov changed was to redraw the city limits to capture the people who had moved outside of the city. No, Indianapolis wasn't very big back in the 1800s when river transportation was the way to go, but at some point doesn't this cease to make much difference?

Your point about the 500 may be accurate (although I think most people would associate Indy with the Colts nowadays), but what do people outside this area associate with Louisville? Baseball bats and a horse race. Milwaukee? beer. Cincinnati? chili and bad sports teams. Maybe these cities are "better" than Indianapolis, and maybe not but it's a little disingenuous to criticize us locals for getting defensive when the entire purpose of this thread is to criticize the city.

Excellent post. Before I moved to Louisville, I thought of it as a backwater southern town that had a horse race. I thought Cincy was a decrepid city, and Indy was nothing but Hoosiers in Nascar hats. OK, that's an exaggeration, but that is what many people would think without visiting these cities. I also think for every person that knew about a place like Indy or Louisville or whatever midsized city, there would be 3 that would have no impression neither good nor bad.

Whoever said there was "no one" walking around Chicago is full of it. Why would you guys even respond to that BS? I think Indy knows its peer cities and has its sights set on the next tier, which is great I think.

Based on MSA, I would argue these are Indy's peers, with Indy pulling away from the bottom five as far as "large city" amenities like pro sports and drawing the super bowl:


28 San Antonio, TX MSA Greater San Antonio TX 01,990,675 01,711,721 A052+16.30% ZZZ
29 Kansas City, MO-KS MSA Greater Kansas City MO-KS 01,985,429 01,836,423 A150+8.11% Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS CSA
30 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA Clark County, Las Vegas Valley NV 01,836,333 01,375,535 A006+33.50% Las Vegas-Paradise-Pahrump, NV CSA
31 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA Bay Area, South Bay, Silicon Valley CA 01,803,643 01,735,819 A235+3.91% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA
32 Columbus, OH MSA Columbus Metropolitan Area OH 01,754,337 01,612,844 A137+8.77% Columbus-Marion-Chillicothe, OH CSA
33 Indianapolis-Carmel, IN MSA Nine-County Region IN 01,695,037 01,525,104 A095+11.14% Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN CSA
34 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA Hampton Roads VA-NC 01,658,754 01,576,917 A212+5.19% ZZZ
35 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC MSA Metrolina NC-SC 01,651,568 01,330,439 A023+24.14% Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC CSA
36 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA MSA Providence metropolitan area RI-MA 01,600,856 01,582,997 A293+1.13% Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA
37 Austin-Round Rock, TX MSA Greater Austin, Central Texas TX 01,598,161 01,249,748 A011+27.88% ZZZ
38 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MSA Greater Milwaukee WI 01,544,398 01,500,744 A258+2.91% Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI CSA
39 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN MSA The Mid-State TN 01,521,437 01,311,789 A053+15.98% Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Columbia, TN CSA
40 Jacksonville, FL MSA First Coast FL 01,300,823 01,122,750 A054+15.86% ZZZ
41 Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA The Mid-South TN-MS-AR 01,280,533 01,205,194 A191+6.25% ZZZ
42 Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA Kentuckiana KY-IN 01,233,735 01,162,409 A194+6.14% Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN CSA
43 Richmond, VA MSA Richmond-Petersburg VA 01,212,977 01,096,955 A106+10.58% ZZZ
44 Oklahoma City, OK MSA OKC Metro, Greater OKC OK 01,192,989 01,095,421 A134+8.91% Oklahoma City-Shawnee, OK CSA
45 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT MSA Greater Hartford CT 01,189,113 01,148,618 A244+3.53% Hartford-West Hartford-Willimantic, CT

Indy has its sights on being viewed with larger, more culturally interesting cities like St Louis, Tampa, and San Diego, but its just not there yet at all. We will see if it gets there. Like I said, forget Chicago, Indy. Indy should compete with Louisville, Cincinnati, and Columbus regionally first, and I think it is doing a decent job, it just doesn't have the urban character or historic, indie charm that many urbanites like myself look for as much as those other towns.

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by stx12499

Whoever said there was "no one" walking around Chicago is full of it.

The only way this is true is if you're walking around downtown, particularly the south loop, after work hours.

[Stubbzilla]

If I wanted Indy to be Chicago, I would have moved to Chicago. I left LA for a reason. I have been to Chicago once, and it was everything that's bad about LA and nothing that's good about LA. But, some people love Chicago. More power to 'em, and I hope they live there and love it. Please don't come to Indy and turn Indy into Chicago. Then I will have to move to Cincy or Louisville.

[megonow]

Don't mean to insult anyone but my view of Indianapolis is that
it's football, car racing, conservative and appeals to quite non intellectual
types.

Am I wrong? I am looking for a place to live and work and retire. I'm older but like tennis/golf not football. I like museums not cars. I like cafes and bookstores not shopping malls.

Would i love or hate this city?

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by megonow

Don't mean to insult anyone but my view of Indianapolis is that
it's football, car racing, conservative and appeals to quite non intellectual
types.

Am I wrong? I am looking for a place to live and work and retire. I'm older but like tennis/golf not football. I like museums not cars. I like cafes and bookstores not shopping malls.

Would i love or hate this city?

If you come into Indy with expectations of it being something that it's not (we've had posters here who do that), then you WILL hate it because you won't take Indy for what it is:

A nice, laid back midwest city. Heavy on the nice.
Believe it or not, Hoosiers are golf crazy ... I'm not kidding about that ... there are golf courses of all shapes and sizes all over the place.
It's big box and chain heavy, but the indies that are out there are wonderful. You'll have to look at is as an adventure to find these gems. Of course, the big 10 towns of West Lafayette & Bloomington are the bigges indie places. And Bloomington is a populare retiree place.
We have museums all over the state ... not sure what your tastes are, but if you're expecting Chicago/NYC/Dc type museums ... well, that's just not the case. The IMA has great exhibits.

[Naptowner]

Originally Posted by domergurl

If you come into Indy with expectations of it being something that it's not (we've had posters here who do that), then you WILL hate it because you won't take Indy for what it is:

A nice, laid back midwest city. Heavy on the nice.
Believe it or not, Hoosiers are golf crazy ... I'm not kidding about that ... there are golf courses of all shapes and sizes all over the place.
It's big box and chain heavy, but the indies that are out there are wonderful. You'll have to look at is as an adventure to find these gems. Of course, the big 10 towns of West Lafayette & Bloomington are the bigges indie places. And Bloomington is a populare retiree place.
We have museums all over the state ... not sure what your tastes are, but if you're expecting Chicago/NYC/Dc type museums ... well, that's just not the case. The IMA has great exhibits.

I agree about the golf, lots of people play it, and Indianapolis has some pretty decent municipal courses. There are plenty of other public courses around, as well. You may find it's more affordable here than in other parts of the country. This is not a huge tennis town, but there are some nice racquet clubs, so you'd be able to find partners.

I guess the car racing thing depends on whom you ask. Out of all my friends, I know one guy who's into NASCAR. But we all go to the 500 every year because it's something of a ritual. Among my colleagues (I'm an attorney) there aren't a lot of car racing fans, and I don't see NASCAR flags in my neighborhood, but among some people racing is big.

The museums and bookstores may disappoint, but there are some indies, and there are museums worth taking a look at. And IU-Bloomington is just about an hour away, and has some nice exhibits from time to time, as well as opera, symphonic music, and other cultural events. Of course Indianapolis has these as well, but they're more affordable and a little more varied in Bloomington.

[Avengerfire]

I like Indy for what it is. I do not want it to change. I like going there. I can do things there I can't do in Chicago believe it or not.

[Randomdude]

I didnt read through all of the posts, but I think it should be mentioned if it hasnt, what the definition of good city is, and what frame of mind, visitor or resident.

A number of people say Chicago. Obviously those people arent considering housing costs, weather, commute. They are considering mostly the culture.

Some say St. Louis, but what about the fact its constantly ranked as one of the most dangerous cities?

Minneapolis? Weather, housing costs?

Milwaukee? Race problems, weather, crime, bad schools?

Honestly, it seems a whole lot of people are giving Indianapolis grief for being "sterile", but really, what could be better for someone looking to raise a family?

[MitchArk87]

First, I want to tell you my opinion strictly so please don't let me offend you in any ways. By the way, I believe that my home town Indianapolis is one of the most underrated cities. People do not realize that Indy can be an excellent place to raise a family along with cheaper cost of living and the economy will bounce back.

Indy is doing a great job of getting more big city amenties and improving the economy slowly and both Pacers and Colts boost Indy's image nationally.

Although Indy might be conservative and lacking in diversity, there are cities nearby such as Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Detroit that you can easily take short trips for whatever Indy doesn't have.

There are many places worse than Indy like Little Rock, Arkansas where I am currently living, for an example. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my job. You are lucky to be living in INdy and you shouldn't be negative about Indy until you know what it is like living in Little Rock first. LOL!

Little Rock, AR is slow-paced, outright religious, and racist with low-quality museums and art center with no professional team bases. University of Arkansas Razorback Football Team stinks; their games are 3 hours away in rural Northwest Arkansas town of Fayetteville, which is silly since Little Rock is supposed to be the hub of this state. The Univ. of AR should be built here not in Fayetteville. The only special thing about Little Rock is the fact that we have Bill Clinton's Presidential Library here since he is a native of Arkansas.

You see why you shouldn't be so negative about Indy. If you don't like Indy, move. If not, just keep your negative attitudes to yourself because there will always be Hoosiers around who happen to think Indy is the Heaven on Earth! Go, Indy and the Colts!