Policy Instruments - a little case study of Indianapolis

Between graduating from Franklin College and starting graduate school here at IU, I lived in Indianapolis for almost 7 years. Even before that, Indianapolis was a pretty familiar place to me during my final years of undergrad. 

While in Indy, I lived all over the city from Southport (south side), to Broad Ripple, to a neighborhood called Herron-Morton on the near north side, to Nora on the north side. I worked on the east side, the west side and the north side.  Basically, despite not growing up in Indy, it feels like home and I know parts of it inside and out.

Honestly, I love Indy. It is truly a fantastic place to live. The downtown is vibrant, not just somewhere that people go to work from 9-5. There are little nooks, such as Broad Ripple and Mass Ave that are just kicking butt at encouraging the "local" scene. On the first Friday of every month there is an event titled, well, First Fridays, which puts local artists, food trucks, and other establishments on the map. 

I mention all this exciting information first because it clearly shows that Indy has, or is at least trying to improve, capital in many ways (cultural, human, social, economic, physical). Hopefully, this capital allows for a greater sense of community around Indy and improvements on the natural capital front. It still has a way to go, for instance the near east side and near west side are pretty troubled areas. (I'm sure Professor Brown could enlighten us after last year's V515 project.) 

In light of my love for Indy and familiarity with the city, I thought I would discuss a few of Indy's sustainable initiatives and the policy instruments used to achieve them. I really saw Indy make some strides while I was living there, and I have enjoyed keeping tabs on the city since moving to Bloomington.

Definitely chime in below if you think I've misidentified any of the policy instruments. Most of them I had to deduce from information about the projects!

One of the most touted projects in Indy over the last decade has been the Indy Cultural Trail. It's a dream city trail for bicyclists and pedestrians. But it's also so much more as it connects 5 cultural districts, has public art, and a peace walkway. It connects to the Monon Trail (think the B-Line) and the White River Wapahani Trail which can then connect to the Central Canal Towpath (aka the Butler Towpath). The cultural trail was made possible by a public-private partnership, which falls under the expenditure policy instrument category and a grant which is a financial incentive. A few million dollars were raised for the project and then the City of Indianapolis gave permission to use the city sidewalks for the project. A generous private donation from the Glick family kicked off the ground breaking in 2007. Finally, a US Department of Transportation grant in 2010 allowed for the completion of the project. In May 2013, a grand opening took place off of Mass Ave to celebrate the 8 mile trail.

Another public-private partnership is the Indy Bike Hub. In talking with friends from other areas, it appears this is a fairly unique initiative. To encourage commuting by bike to the downtown area, the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis used part of the City Market to create indoor bike storage along with showering facilities for bike commuters. The City of Indianapolis invested $3.5 million for this idea to become a reality. 
I suppose there is room for debate on whether this is the best use of space. Maybe people should park their bikes outside? But, as someone who owns a nice road bike, I would argue it would be nice to ride that bike (instead of acquiring a 2nd cheaper bike) to work and have someplace safe to store it. In my experience, many places are reluctant to have employees bring bikes into the work space for a variety of reasons.  

Finally, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful  (KIB) is a great example of the volunteer initiative policy instrument. KIB's self proclaimed vision is to help Indianapolis become a city with "strong neighborhoods, inspired places, and a clean, flourishing environment." They engage neighborhoods and communities and businesses in many ways including planting trees, cleaning up and revitalizing neighborhoods, and providing youth programming. This organization is very visible in the community, particularly because one of Indy's flagship companies, Eli Lilly & Company, takes a day in the spring to participate in a city-wide beautification project. 

A couple of other interesting initiatives are the bike share program and the EV car share program. I'll leave the policy instrument analysis up to you guys for these two. 

So, I hope you weren't too put off by the Indianapolis love-fest! I would love to hear how cities that you love with use policy instruments to encourage sustainable communities.

~Katie