Indianapolis Cultural Trail

by Brian Payne, President, Central Indiana Community Foundation

The first questions most people ask me about the Cultural Trail are:
“Where did the idea come from? How did it start?”

In 2001, the Cultural Development Commission was formed and Mayor Peterson appointed me as one of nine commissioners. Our charge was to develop ways to position Indianapolis nationally and globally as a cultural destination city, as well as to make Indianapolis a city of choice for the world’s best talent when looking for a place to live and work.

Our first strategy established the six cultural districts: Mass Ave, Indiana Ave., the Canal and White River State Park, the Wholesale District, Fountain Square and Broad Ripple Village. The Cultural District program promotes walkable areas of town that feature several arts, cultural, heritage, sports and entertainment venues. These areas or districts offer both residents and visitors the opportunity to experience places and neighborhoods versus singular venues. While promoting this idea, I kept hearing from my colleagues, donors to the foundation and board members that the districts needed to be connected somehow to really work.

That spring, I joined thousands of walkers, joggers, roller-bladers, strollers and cyclists on one of the first beautiful days in April on the Monon Trail. As I strolled my young son along the trail, I thought: “Why couldn’t we build an urban version of the Monon downtown to connect the Cultural Districts?”

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. The more I talked to young people and families moving to Indianapolis, the more I heard that the Monon Trail was one of their most valued assets in Indianapolis. Over time, after literally hundreds of conversations and generous financial support, it has become a reality. I’ll admit: it is so much more than I ever initially envisioned. As the Cultural Trail vision has grown due to the involvement and creativity of hundreds of partners and supporters, so too have our ambitions.  We now know that the Cultural Trail will not only change the landscape of a city, but also the values of its people.

The real lesson from this story is that the idea of the Cultural Trail was inspired by something we already have and that already works well – the Monon Trail and our greenway trail system.

It begs the question: What else do we value so highly, already works well and could be leveraged into the next big idea for Indianapolis?  Send us your thoughts.

by Kevin Osburn, ASLA, Rundell Ernstberger Associates, lead designer Indianapolis Cultural Trail

From October 6 – 10, I was invited to attend the Walk 21 Conference in NYC to speak about the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. An annual, international conference highlighting Walk 21’s worldwide efforts to promote the development of healthy, sustainable, and efficient communities where people choose to walk. The folks at Walk 21 “have a vision to create a world where people choose and are able to walk as a way to travel, to be healthy and to relax.”

The conference was hosted by the NYC Department of Transportation, who, under the leadership of Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, has implemented an inspiring series of pedestrian and bicycle improvements throughout New York City, including the closure of lanes of traffic on Broadway Avenue from Columbus Circle to Madison Square to create additional space for pedestrians and bicyclists. By making these improvements in a very quick, efficient way, the DOT has seen substantial positive results, including reduced traffic fatalities, more efficient traffic movement, significant increase in the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation, and widespread public support. These projects, combined with the recently opened High Line in the city’s meatpacking district, made New York City the perfect venue for a conference focused on the state of the art in walking and bicycling.

I had the opportunity to speak with people from around the world – Mexico City, Toronto, Bogotá, Copenhagen, London - who were very interested in what we are doing here in Indianapolis. Most were impressed by the scope of the project and the amount of private dollars donated; others were impressed by the design – the use of high end materials, attention to detail, sustainable design practices, and the innovative manner in which the project is being integrated into the city’s grid of streets. All were amazed that the project is actually being built - I heard many stories of well intentioned pedestrian and bicycle projects that are awaiting funding or the political will to move ahead.

Though short, the trip to the Big Apple was refreshing and recharging. The interest and enthusiasm generated by our project confirmed several things for me:

• we are on the right track – with the on-going implementation of the ICT, Indianapolis is on the cutting edge of 21^st century urban design.
• we are building something that is unique to our city – this is not a design that can be easily transported to another city.
• this project will transform the way current and future generations experience and move about our city and is leading the way toward a more sustainable, walkable, healthy, and liveable city.

Click here for a short film about the Walk 21 NYC conference.

by Brian Payne, President, Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF)

In early November, I attended the CEOs for Cities national meeting in Chicago, Ill. CEOs for Cities is a national organization that works with a cross-sector network of urban leaders to create next generation cities that excel in talent, connections, innovation and distinctiveness and are therefore able to best address the challenges of the day.

The meeting discussed the findings of a new study, City Dividends by Joe Cortright, an economist from Portland, Oregon, which “calculates the monetary gains the top 51 metros could realize if they increase their college attainment by one percentage point (The Talent Dividend), reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by one mile per person per day (The Green Dividend) and reduce the number of people in poverty (The Opportunity Dividend) by one percentage point.” (from www.ceosforcities.org)

The study reports that our metro area could gain an additional $1.3 billion by realizing the Talent Dividend; $305 million through the Green Dividend; and $138 million in one year from the Opportunity Dividend.

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick addresses the Talent Dividend by helping attract and retain more highly educated, creative talent to Indianapolis who want to live in a more walkable urban, vibrant and connected place. It also helps address the Green Dividend by providing a safe and beautiful pathway for walking or biking that connects you directly to every major arts, cultural, heritage, sports, and entertainment venues and within a few blocks of the largest employers in the downtown area. 

According to this study, one could deduce that the Cultural Trail will help Indianapolis realize and redirect an additional $1.6 Billion per year toward more positive economic development.

The Green Dividend requires walkable, sustainable cities. Yet, people need a reason to walk. They need to be conveniently connected to places and the journey needs to be interesting as well (i.e. other people need to be there, too). They also need to feel safe and comfortable walking (i.e. parallel parking can provide a comfortable buffer and provide a safer walking environment).  The Cultural Trail provides the connectivity, safety and inspiring environment that will draw more people, creating a vibrant urban experience.

Another speaker and a renowned leading environmentalist with Serrafix, Douglas Foy said “Cities are for people, not for cars.”  He offered five related key messages/strategies for cities:
1. Cities that are greener are inherently more efficient.
2. Cities that focus on pedestrians will have a competitive advantage.
3. Zoning of the past 100 years has been a huge mistake.
4. Cities must maintain transit systems and make them better.
5. Cities should use conjestion pricing tools and other incentives to get people out of cars, such as shared cars, shared bikes and shared parking.

Lastly, the meeting noted five characteristics of great cities:
1. Great neighborhoods
2. Urban density for effective transit
3. Not-for-profits leading and creating intellectual property
4. Water that is celebrated
5. Green energy

None of this is shocking or necessarily new information. However, it is helpful to show the monetary benefits associated with making incremental improvements, such as increasing our college educated population by ten percent or reducing our VMT by one mile per day. It’s also helpful to have outside sources giving us a very clear roadmap for success based on research, trends and examples.

Indianapolis is a great city that keeps getting better. We still have our work cut out for us to remain competitive for talented, highly educated employees and residents who can live anywhere in the world. This study is one more important source showing that the Cultural Trail offers very tangible and economic benefits that the City of Indianapolis will reap for decades to come.

Last week, there were three completely different but very important examples of how the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick is already inspiring creativity, conversation, collaboration, recreation and neighborhood rejuvenation.

Example #1: Inspiring Neighborhood Rejuvenation
In the Monday, October 27, 2008, issue of The Indianapolis Star, the article “Fletcher Place’s new look,” described plans for a new $2 million residential and office building called Fletcher Place Terrace that will be located on South College Avenue. Jeff Miller, a board member and spokesman for the Fletcher Place Neighborhood Association said: “The neighborhood is counting on the coming leg of the Cultural Trail to link [Fletcher Place] more directly with downtown.”

Example #2: Community Collaboration
On Wednesday, October 29, the Indianapolis Colts gave away 50 free bicycles to kindergartners and first-graders at the Center for Inquiry IPS School #2. Why that school? Because it’s located on the Cultural Trail and it is planning a bicycle program for its students that will teach bicycle safety and maintenance.

Example #3: Creative Conversation
On Friday, October 31, as the first public art installation, “Ann Dancing,” by Julian Opie, was re-installed after some repair and restoration on the corner of Mass Ave, Alabama St. and Vermont St., a new public art installation just north of “Ann” was discovered on the Cultural Trail just outside Marsh the Marketplace.  Small rocks painted bright yellow carried the message in black repeated one message three times: “We are going to be okay.”  The artist? Unknown.  Read full story.

All three examples are early signs of what is to come as the Cultural Trail is completed. With only one-half mile done and 7.5 miles to go, this project is demonstrating the power of what can happen with better connectivity and creativity.

Now that the first half-mile is complete, we are creating a plan to maintain this as a world-class facility for decades to come. The Cultural Trail’s $50.35 million budget includes a $5 million maintenance endowment* that will provide some funding for maintenance long-term. We also plan to build a team from our partnership with the City of Indianapolis and bring in new players to help, like Indianapolis Downtown, Inc., which already provides maintenance management for much of the downtown area.

We need your help, too. The Cultural Trail provides trash receptacles, among other site furnishings (lighting, bike racks, bollards, benches) that we felt would most enhance the trail’s experience and help maintain it as a world-class amenity.

If you see trash, pick it up and place it in the trash receptacles.

If you see glass on the Trail, call us (317.713.3333). We will have it cleared as soon as possible.

If you see people vandalizing the Trail with stickers or paint or skateboards, call them names and then call us. We will make sure it is reported.

If you’re smoking on the Trail, please put out your cigar or cigarette safely in an appropriate container. The butts are trash, too. They don’t belong on the ground.

And, if you’re chewing gum, whatever you do, do not throw it on the trail or the in the plant bed or anywhere on the ground. Let’s just say that Brian Payne may personally come after you if you do!

We need to work together to keep our city clean and beautiful. Thank you for your help and cooperation!

*The Margot L. and Robert S. Eccles Charitable Fund, a CICF Fund, will match your gifts to the Cultural Trail maintenance endowment! For example, every $2 you give, it will chip in $1. Contact Gail Payne today to make a gift: 317.713.3333 or Gail@IndyCulturalTrail.org

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick created this blog to give the community (locally, nationally, and even internationally) more opportunities to ask questions, offer feedback, and learn about this transformative project.

So let us know: what types of things would you like us to blog about?

We have a few ideas and want yours, too.

Keep in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.