Indianapolis: downhill or uphill? (Bloomington, Lafayette: condos, sex offender, high crime)

[Indylove317]

How do you think the Indianapolis region is doing?

I LOVE INDIANAPOLIS! It's in my favorite cities list.
But, every city has it's problems. Every city also has its good points.

So, what's good about Indy, and what's bad about Indy? Feel free to include anything about the city in your posts.

Ps; are there any condemned houses in Indy? I can't really picture any being there

[sweetana3]

There are a lot of condemned houses but this is not something anyone wants to take a picture of. It does not take long to figure out the boundaries of the areas to avoid. I think parts (not all) of the near east side have had issues of fraudulent loans and deteriorating. It was in the newspaper numerous times both local and national.

Now that said, the other side is true and there are a large number of areas that are significantly improving sometimes overnight. It is amazing how the Fletcher Place area and its surroundings have become so popular. Suddenly the area will be popular.

Windsor Park, Cottage Home, Irvington, Fall Creek Place (new homes), are all within a short distance (sometimes walking distance) of downtown. These are not the only developments. Lots of condos of all price ranges also.

About the only thing I dont like about downtown Indy is the pollution from the vast number of cars. You should see what it does to the outside of the houses. The stink on some mornings is incredible from some kind of industrial chemicals. Sometimes it smells like natural gas is leaking and other times it is an asphalt smell. But this morning was lovely and I could smell the trees blooms and hear all the birds singing. Wonderful.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by sweetana3

There are a lot of condemned houses but this is not something anyone wants to take a picture of. It does not take long to figure out the boundaries of the areas to avoid. I think parts (not all) of the near east side have had issues of fraudulent loans and deteriorating. It was in the newspaper numerous times both local and national.

Now that said, the other side is true and there are a large number of areas that are significantly improving sometimes overnight. It is amazing how the Fletcher Place area and its surroundings have become so popular. Suddenly the area will be popular.

Windsor Park, Cottage Home, Irvington, Fall Creek Place (new homes), are all within a short distance (sometimes walking distance) of downtown. These are not the only developments. Lots of condos of all price ranges also.

About the only thing I dont like about downtown Indy is the pollution from the vast number of cars. You should see what it does to the outside of the houses. The stink on some mornings is incredible from some kind of industrial chemicals. Sometimes it smells like natural gas is leaking and other times it is an asphalt smell. But this morning was lovely and I could smell the trees blooms and hear all the birds singing. Wonderful.

I'm sorry to chime in, but aren't you one of the people who doesn't want a mass transit system? Funny, you complain about the pollution, but are against mass transit.

Liger will be able to give you a great lowdown on what is great and not so great about Indianapolis.

I think Indianapolis has potential out the wazoo. There are a lot of good things going on arts-wise, sports-wise, housing-wise. But there are pockets of the city that drag the place down, and that is what the media focuses on.

But what do I know, I'm just a Fishers ghetto dweller.

[sweetana3]

I love mass transit and used the Indpls bus system for years. However, the type they are always talking about would benefit a limited number of people for a massive cost. My voice will have no impact.

I also believe if built as described (Fishers to downtown and maybe airport) it would have a very limited effect on the pollution I described because the trucks and people from all the other areas (Fishers is not the only part of town generating traffic) will still use the downtown interstate next to my house.

Plus it will have nothing to do with the pollution from the industrial plants.

Any plans for any mass transit are years if not decades in the future and people interested in the downtown have a right to know what the current situation is.

And I still dont want to pay for a transit system that I would never consider using. It is a commuter system not a complete regional system (as described).

[MattDen]

What was the last time they had a decent mayor or city council in Indianapolis?

Bland, crime-ridden, unoriginal and topgraphically and architecturally unappealing overall is how I would describe Indianapolis. I guess the only thing about Indianapolis thats nice is its fairly clean downtown.

Im sorry but I have been to Indianapolis many times and Indianapolis is one of the worst cities that has squandered so much potential. From the moment one enters Marion County one can just see the backwards leadership of the people who run the city and it just keeps getting worse and worse as one approaches the city of Indianapolis!

The downtown is clean, but its very boring. Most of the neighborhoods look like what one would see in a small town on the great plains that has seen better days.

Indianapolis also has a very, very high crime rate. I guess with the amount of poverty I saw going through Indianapolis its pretty natural that the amount of violence would be high.

Overall, Indianapolis is a very backwards city that has squandered so much oppurtunity because of its location and population size.

I like Indiana but I would rather live in Richmond, Bloomington, Lafayette or even New Albany over Indianapolis anyday.

[CHICAGOLAND92]

I don't get how Indianapolis has a lot of poverty, especially since it's the most affordable city in the nation

[Teach07]

Every city has a ghetto and ours isnt even that bad. Trust me, go to other cities (go to St Louis, Milwaukee, parts of Kansas)....I dont think there is supreme poverty here in Indy. Rather the inner city population is where most of the crime is perpetuated. A large amount of crime that is done by a small poplation of people. Most of the crime are related incidents, disputes, retaliations, etc and though there is random crime, there isnt a huge portion of random crime acts. These areas are highlighted in the news more so than the average sex offender and crimes in rural areas involving meth, etc., so the media plays a large part in focusing on crime in urban areas generally making it appear worse than what it is.

[patrickmich]

dude, mattden, you're freaking me out. If Indy really looks like you describe,
then I'm going to Lafayette. Most people in the forum try to highlight Indy's
positive aspects, but you brought out the ugliness about the town, which I appreciate.

[hoosier07]

It depends where you live, it's a large city after all, people forget that Indianapolis is the 12th largest in the US and with that, some level of violence and poverty will happen, but not that bad.

C'mon, I live in Greenwood (15 minutes driving south from downtown Indy) and it's just a perfect place to live. We love downtown Indy, the Childrens Museum, the Malls in the North side, the restaurants. Overall a very good cost benefit, with affordable housing, great parks around the city, good place to live.

Some people are looking for the impossible, lifestyle of a 15,000 people city in a general metro area of 1.2 million people.

I lived in Detroit prior to moving to Indy....do you want me to bring it into discussion ??? I don't think so. Indy is great, believe me. By the way, it's close to Chicago for weekend trips in case you miss a bigger Metro area and there is a very nice park called Brown County State Park between Columbus, IN and Bloomington, IN (40 minutes driving from Indy - south).

[Future Trooper]

With everything going on since the last post on this thread up to now I would say tat the Indianapolis is going uphill.Not extremely slow or fast but just perfectly.